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Title: The Woman's Bible

Author: Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Release date: February 1, 2006 [eBook #9880]
Most recently updated: December 27, 2020

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9880

Credits: Produced by Carrie Lorenz and John B. Hare

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOMAN'S
BIBLE ***

Produced by Carrie Lorenz and John B. Hare

THE WOMAN'S BIBLE.
PART I.

Comments on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

"In every soul there is bound up some truth and some error, and each
gives to the world of thought what no other one possesses."—Cousin.

1898.

By

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

REVISING COMMITTEE.

"We took sweet counsel together."—Ps. Iv., 14.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton,

Lillie Devereux Blake,

Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford,

Matilda Joslyn Gage,

Clara Bewick Colby,

Rev. Olympia Brown,

Rev. Augusta Chapin,

Frances Ellen Burr,

Ursula N. Gestefeld,

Clara B. Neyman,

Mary Seymour Howell,

Helen H. Gardener,

Josephine K. Henry,

Charlotte Beebe: Wilbour,

Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll,

Lucinda B. Chandler,

Sarah A. Underwood,

Catharine F. Stebbins,

Ellen Battelle Dietrick,[FN#1]

Louisa Southworth.

[FN#1] Deceased.

FOREIGN MEMBERS.

Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg, Finland,

Ursula M. Bright, England,

Irma Von Troll-Borostyant, Austria,

Priscilla Bright Mclaren, Scotland,

Isabelle Bogelot, France

COMMENTS
ON

GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS AND DEUTERONOMY,

By

Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Lillie Devereux Blake,
Rev. Phebe Hanaford,
Clara Bewick Colby,

Ellen Battelle Dietrick,
Ursula N. Gestefeld,
Mrs. Louisa Southworth,
Frances Ellen Burr.

PREFACE.
So many letters are daily received asking questions about the Woman's
Bible,—as to the extent of the revision, and the standpoint from which it
will be conducted—that it seems best, though every detail is not as yet
matured, to state the plan, as concisely as possible, upon which those who
have been in consultation during the summer, propose to do the work.

I. The object is to revise only those texts and chapters directly referring to
women, and those also in which women are made prominent by exclusion.
As all such passages combined form but one-tenth of the Scriptures, the

undertaking will not be so laborious as, at the first thought, one would
imagine. These texts, with the commentaries, can easily be compressed into
a duodecimo volume of about four hundred pages.

II. The commentaries will be of a threefold character, the writers in the
different branches being selected according to their special aptitude for the
work:

1. Two or three Greek and Hebrew scholars will devote themselves to the
translation and the meaning of particular words and texts in the original.

2. Others will devote themselves to Biblical history, old manuscripts, to
the new version, and to the latest theories as to the occult meaning of
certain texts and parables.

3. For the commentaries on the plain English version a committee of
some thirty members has been formed. These are women of earnestness and
liberal ideas, quick to see the real purport of the Bible as regards their sex.
Among them the various books of the Old and New Testament will be
distributed for comment.

III. There will be two or more editors to bring the work of the various
committees into one consistent whole.

IV. The completed work will be submitted to an advisory committee
assembled at some central point, as London, New York, or Chicago, to sit in
final judgment on "The Woman's Bible."

As to the manner of doing the practical work:

Those who have been engaged this summer have adopted the following
plan, which may be suggestive to new members of the committee. Each
person purchased two Bibles, ran through them from Genesis to
Revelations, marking all the texts that concerned women. The passages
were cut out, and pasted in a blank book, and the commentaries then written
underneath.

Those not having time to read all the books can confine their labors to the
particular ones they propose to review.

It is thought best to publish the different parts as soon as prepared so that
the Committee may have all in print in a compact form before the final
revision.

E. C. S.

August 1st, 1895.

INTRODUCTION.
From the inauguration of the movement for woman's emancipation the
Bible has been used to hold her in the "divinely ordained sphere,"

prescribed in the Old and New Testaments.

The canon and civil law; church and state; priests and legislators; all
political parties and religious denominations have alike taught that woman
was made after man, of man, and for man, an inferior being, subject to man.
Creeds, codes, Scriptures and statutes, are all based on this idea. The
fashions, forms, ceremonies and customs of society, church ordinances and
discipline all grow out of this idea.

Of the old English common law, responsible for woman's civil and
political status, Lord Brougham said, "it is a disgrace to the civilization and
Christianity of the Nineteenth Century." Of the canon law, which is
responsible for woman's status in the church, Charles Kingsley said, "this
will never be a good world for women until the last remnant of the canon
law is swept from the face of the earth."

The Bible teaches that woman brought sin and death into the world, that
she precipitated the fall of the race, that she was arraigned before the
judgment seat of Heaven, tried, condemned and sentenced. Marriage for her
was to be a condition of bondage, maternity a period of suffering and
anguish, and in silence and subjection, she was to play the role of a
dependent on man's bounty for all her material wants, and for all the
information she might desire on the vital questions of the hour, she was
commanded to ask her husband at home. Here is the Bible position of
woman briefly summed up.

Those who have the divine insight to translate, transpose and transfigure
this mournful object of pity into an exalted, dignified personage, worthy our
worship as the mother of the race, are to be congratulated as having a share
of the occult mystic power of the eastern Mahatmas.

The plain English to the ordinary mind admits of no such liberal
interpretation. The unvarnished texts speak for themselves. The canon law,
church ordinances and Scriptures, are homogeneous, and all reflect the
same spirit and sentiments.

These familiar texts are quoted by clergymen in their pulpits, by
statesmen in the halls of legislation, by lawyers in the courts, and are
echoed by the press of all civilized nations, and accepted by woman herself
as "The Word of God." So perverted is the religious element in her nature,
that with faith and works she is the chief support of the church and clergy;
the very powers that make her emancipation impossible. When, in the early
part of the Nineteenth Century, women began to protest against their civil
and political degradation, they were referred to the Bible for an answer.
When they protested against their unequal position in the church, they were
referred to the Bible for an answer.

This led to a general and critical study of the Scriptures. Some, having
made a fetish of these books and believing them to be the veritable "Word
of God," with liberal translations, interpretations, allegories and symbols,
glossed over the most objectionable features of the various books and clung
to them as divinely inspired. Others, seeing the family resemblance between
the Mosaic code, the canon law, and the old English common law, came to
the conclusion that all alike emanated from the same source; wholly human
in their origin and inspired by the natural love of domination in the
historians. Others, bewildered with their doubts and fears, came to no
conclusion. While their clergymen told them on the one hand, that they
owed all the blessings and freedom they enjoyed to the Bible, on the other,
they said it clearly marked out their circumscribed sphere of action: that the
demands for political and civil rights were irreligious, dangerous to the
stability of the home, the state and the church. Clerical appeals were
circulated from time to time, conjuring members of their churches to take

no part in the anti-slavery or woman suffrage movements, as they were
infidel in their tendencies, undermining the very foundations of society. No
wonder the majority of women stood still, and with bowed heads, accepted
the situation.

Listening to the varied opinions of women, I have long thought it would
be interesting and profitable to get them clearly stated in book form. To this
end six years ago I proposed to a committee of women to issue a Woman's
Bible, that we might have women's commentaries on women's position in
the Old and New Testaments. It was agreed on by several leading women in
England and America and the work was begun, but from various causes it
has been delayed, until now the idea is received with renewed enthusiasm,
and a large committee has been formed, and we hope to complete the work
within a year.

Those who have undertaken the labor are desirous to have some Hebrew
and Greek scholars, versed in Biblical criticism, to gild our pages with their
learning. Several distinguished women have been urged to do so, but they
are afraid that their high reputation and scholarly attainments might be
compromised by taking part in an enterprise that for a time may prove very
unpopular. Hence we may not be able to get help from that class.

Others fear that they might compromise their evangelical faith by
affiliating with those of more liberal views, who do not regard the Bible as
the "Word of God," but like any other book, to be judged by its merits. If
the Bible teaches the equality of Woman, why does the church refuse to
ordain women to preach the gospel, to fill the offices of deacons and elders,
and to administer the Sacraments, or to admit them as delegates to the
Synods, General Assemblies and Conferences of the different
denominations? They have never yet invited a woman to join one of their

Revising Committees, nor tried to mitigate the sentence pronounced on her
by changing one count in the indictment served on her in Paradise.

The large number of letters received, highly appreciative of the
undertaking, is very encouraging to those who have inaugurated the
movement, and indicate a growing self-respect and self-assertion in the
women of this generation. But we have the usual array of objectors to meet
and answer. One correspondent conjures us to suspend the work, as it is
"ridiculous" for "women to attempt the revision of the Scriptures." I wonder
if any man wrote to the late revising committee of Divines to stop their
work on the ground that it was ridiculous for men to revise the Bible. Why
is it more ridiculous for women to protest against her present status in the
Old and New Testament, in the ordinances and discipline of the church,
than in the statutes and constitution of the state? Why is it more ridiculous
to arraign ecclesiastics for their false teaching and acts of injustice to
women, than members of Congress and the House of Commons? Why is it
more audacious to review Moses than Blackstone, the Jewish code of laws,
than the English system of jurisprudence? Women have compelled their
legislators in every state in this Union to so modify their statutes for women
that the old common law is now almost a dead letter. Why not compel
Bishops and Revising Committees to modify their creeds and dogmas?
Forty years ago it seemed as ridiculous to timid, time-serving and
retrograde folk for women to demand an expurgated edition of the laws, as
it now does to demand an expurgated edition of the Liturgies and the
Scriptures. Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your
spectacles, and see that the world is moving. Whatever your views may be
as to the importance of the proposed work, your political and social
degradation are but an outgrowth of your status in the Bible. When you
express your aversion, based on a blind feeling of reverence in which
reason has no control, to the revision of the Scriptures, you do but echo
Cowper, who, when asked to read Paine's "Rights of Man," exclaimed "No

man shall convince me that I am improperly governed while I feel the
contrary."

Others say it is not politic to rouse religious opposition.

This much-lauded policy is but another word for cowardice. How can
woman's position be changed from that of a subordinate to an equal,
without opposition, without the broadest discussion of all the questions
involved in her present degradation? For so far-reaching and momentous a
reform as her complete independence, an entire revolution in all existing
institutions is inevitable.

Let us remember that all reforms are interdependent, and that whatever is
done to establish one principle on a solid basis, strengthens all. Reformers
who are always compromising, have not yet grasped the idea that truth is
the only safe ground to stand upon. The object of an individual life is not to
carry one fragmentary measure in human progress, but to utter the highest
truth clearly seen in all directions, and thus to round out and perfect a well
balanced character. Was not the sum of influence exerted by John Stuart
Mill on political, religious and social questions far greater than that of any
statesman or reformer who has sedulously limited his sympathies and
activities to carrying one specific measure? We have many women
abundantly endowed with capabilities to understand and revise what men
have thus far written. But they are all suffering from inherited ideas of their
inferiority; they do not perceive it, yet such is the true explanation of their
solicitude, lest they should seem to be too self- asserting.

Again there are some who write us that our work is a useless expenditure
of force over a book that has lost its hold on the human mind. Most
intelligent women, they say, regard it simply as the history of a rude people
in a barbarous age, and have no more reverence for the Scriptures than any
other work. So long as tens of thousands of Bibles are printed every year,

and circulated over the whole habitable globe, and the masses in all
English-speaking nations revere it as the word of God, it is vain to belittle
its influence. The sentimental feelings we all have for those things we were
educated to believe sacred, do not readily yield to pure reason. I distinctly
remember the shudder that passed over me on seeing a mother take our
family Bible to make a high seat for her child at table. It seemed such a
desecration. I was tempted to protest against its use for such a purpose, and
this, too, long after my reason had repudiated its divine authority.

To women still believing in the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, we
say give us by all means your exegesis in the light of the higher criticism
learned men are now making, and illumine the Woman's Bible, with your
inspiration.

Bible historians claim special inspiration for the Old and New Testaments
containing most contradictory records of the same events, of miracles
opposed to all known laws, of customs that degrade the female sex of all
human and animal life, stated in most questionable language that could not
be read in a promiscuous assembly, and call all this "The Word of God."

The only points in which I differ from all ecclesiastical teaching is that I
do not believe that any man ever saw or talked with God, I do not believe
that God inspired the Mosaic code, or told the historians what they say he
did about woman, for all the religions on the face of the earth degrade her,
and so long as woman accepts the position that they assign her, her
emancipation is impossible. Whatever the Bible may be made to do in
Hebrew or Greek, in plain English it does not exalt and dignify woman. My
standpoint for criticism is the revised edition of 1888. 1 will so far honor
the revising committee of wise men who have given us the best exegesis
they can according to their ability, although Disraeli said the last one before
he died, contained 150,000 blunders in the Hebrew, and 7,000 in the Greek.

But the verbal criticism in regard to woman's position amounts to little.
The spirit is the same in all periods and languages, hostile to her as an
equal.

There are some general principles in the holy books of all religions that
teach love, charity, liberty, justice and equality for all the human family,
there are many grand and beautiful passages, the golden rule has been
echoed and re-echoed around the world. There are lofty examples of good
and true men and women, all worthy our acceptance and imitation whose
lustre cannot be dimmed by the false sentiments and vicious characters
bound up in the same volume. The Bible cannot be accepted or rejected as a
whole, its teachings are varied and its lessons differ widely from each other.
In criticising the peccadilloes of Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel, we would not
shadow the virtues of Deborah, Huldah and Vashti. In criticising the Mosaic
code, we would not question the wisdom of the golden rule and the fifth
Commandment. Again the church claims special consecration for its
cathedrals and priesthood, parts of these aristocratic churches are too holy
for women to enter, boys were early introduced into the choirs for this
reason, woman singing in an obscure corner closely veiled. A few of the
more democratic denominations accord women some privileges, but
invidious discriminations of sex are found in all religious organizations, and
the most bitter outspoken enemies of woman are found among clergymen
and bishops of the Protestant religion.[FN#2]

[FN#2] See the address of Bishop Doane, June 7th, 1895, in the closing
exercises of St. Agnes School, Albany.

The canon law, the Scriptures, the creeds and codes and church discipline
of the leading religions bear the impress of fallible man, and not of our ideal
great first cause, "the Spirit of all Good," that set the universe of matter and
mind in motion, and by immutable law holds the land, the sea, the planets,
revolving round the great centre of light and heat, each in its own elliptic,
with millions of stars in harmony all singing together, the glory of creation
forever and ever.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

THE BOOK OF GENESIS.
CHAPTER I.

Genesis i: 26, 27, 28.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness: and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth 27 So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God created he him: male and female image, created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that
moveth upon the earth.

Here is the sacred historian's first account of the advent of woman; a
simultaneous creation of both sexes, in the image of God. It is evident from
the language that there was consultation in the Godhead, and that the
masculine and feminine elements were equally represented. Scott in his

commentaries says, "this consultation of the Gods is the origin of the
doctrine of the trinity." But instead of three male personages, as generally
represented, a Heavenly Father, Mother, and Son would seem more rational.

The first step in the elevation of woman to her true position, as an equal
factor in human progress, is the cultivation of the religious sentiment in
regard to her dignity and equality, the recognition by the rising generation
of an ideal Heavenly Mother, to whom their prayers should be addressed, as
well as to a Father.

If language has any meaning, we have in these texts a plain declaration of
the existence of the feminine element in the Godhead, equal in power and
glory with the masculine. The Heavenly Mother and Father! "God created
man in his own image, male and female." Thus Scripture, as well as science
and philosophy, declares the eternity and equality of sex—the philosophical
fact, without which there could have been no perpetuation of creation, no
growth or development in the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdoms, no
awakening nor progressing in the world of thought. The masculine and
feminine elements, exactly equal and balancing each other, are as essential
to the maintenance of the equilibrium of the universe as positive and
negative electricity, the centripetal and centrifugal forces, the laws of
attraction which bind together all we know of this planet whereon we dwell
and of the system in which we revolve.

In the great work of creation the crowning glory was realized, when man
and woman were evolved on the sixth day, the masculine and feminine
forces in the image of God, that must have existed eternally, in all forms of
matter and mind. All the persons in the Godhead are represented in the
Elohim the divine plurality taking counsel in regard to this last and highest
form of life. Who were the members of this high council, and were they a
duality or a trinity? Verse 27 declares the image of God male and female.

How then is it possible to make woman an afterthought? We find in verses
5-16 the pronoun "he" used. Should it not in harmony with verse 26 be
"they," a dual pronoun? We may attribute this to the same cause as the use
of "his" in verse 11 instead of "it." The fruit tree yielding fruit after "his"
kind instead of after "its" kind. The paucity of a language may give rise to
many misunderstandings.

The above texts plainly show the simultaneous creation of man and
woman, and their equal importance in the development of the race. All
those theories based on the assumption that man was prior in the creation,
have no foundation in Scripture.

As to woman's subjection, on which both the canon and the civil law
delight to dwell, it is important to note that equal dominion is given to
woman over every living thing, but not one word is said giving man
dominion over woman.

Here is the first title deed to this green earth giving alike to the sons and
daughters of God. No lesson of woman's subjection can be fairly drawn
from the first chapter of the Old Testament.

E. C. S.

The most important thing for a woman to note, in reading Genesis, is that
that portion which is now divided into "the first three chapters" (there was
no such division until about five centuries ago), contains two entirely
separate, and very contradictory, stories of creation, written by two
different, but equally anonymous, authors. No Christian theologian of to-
day, with any pretensions to scholarship, claims that Genesis was written by
Moses. As was long ago pointed out, the Bible itself declares that all the

books the Jews originally possessed were burned in the destruction of
Jerusalem, about 588 B. C., at the time the people were taken to Babylonia
as slaves too the Assyrians, (see II Esdras, ch. xiv, V. 21, Apocrypha). Not
until about 247 B. C. (some theologians say 226 and others; 169 B. C.) is
there any record of a collection of literature in the re-built Jerusalem, and,
then, the anonymous writer of II Maccabees briefly mentions that some
Nehemiah "gathered together the acts of the kings and the prophets and
those of David" when "founding a library" for use in Jerusalem. But the
earliest mention anywhere in the Bible of a book that might have
corresponded to Genesis is made by an apocryphal writer, who says that
Ezra wrote "all that hath been done in the world since the beginning," after
the Jews returned from Babylon, under his leadership, about 450 B. C. (see
II Esdras, ch. xiv, v. 22, of the Apocrypha).

When it is remembered that the Jewish books were written on rolls of
leather, without much attention to vowel points and with no division into
verses or chapters, by uncritical copyists, who altered passages greatly, and
did not always even pretend to understand what they were copying, then the
reader of Genesis begins to put herself in position to understand how it can
be contradictory. Great as were the liberties which the Jews took with
Genesis, those of the English translators, however, greatly surpassed them.

The first chapter of Genesis, for instance, in Hebrew, tells us, in verses
one and two, "As to origin, created the gods (Elohim) these skies (or air or
clouds) and this earth. . . And a wind moved upon the face of the waters."
Here we have the opening of a polytheistic fable of creation, but, so
strongly convinced were the English translators that the ancient Hebrews
must have been originally monotheistic that they rendered the above, as
follows: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. . . . And
the spirit of God (!) moved upon the face of the waters."

It is now generally conceded that some one (nobody pretends to know
who) at some time (nobody pretends to know exactly when), copied two
creation myths on the same leather roll, one immediately following the
other. About one hundred years ago, it was discovered by Dr. Astruc, of
France, that from Genesis ch. i, v. 1 to Genesis ch. ii, v. 4, is given one
complete account of creation, by an author who always used the term "the
gods" (Elohim), in speaking of the fashioning of the universe, mentioning it
altogether thirty-four times, while, in Genesis ch. ii, v. 4, to the end of
chapter iii, we have a totally different narrative, by an author of
unmistakably different style, who uses the term "Iahveh of the gods" twenty
times, but "Elohim" only three times. The first author, evidently, attributes
creation to a council of gods, acting in concert, and seems never to have
heard of Iahveh. The second attributes creation to Iahveh, a tribal god of
ancient Israel, but represents Iahveh as one of two or more gods, conferring
with them (in Genesis ch. xiii, V. 22) as to the danger of man's acquiring
immortality.

Modern theologians have, for convenience sake, entitled these two
fables, respectively, the Elohistic and the Iahoistic stories. They differ, not
only in the point I have mentioned above, but in the order of the "creative
acts;" in regard to the mutual attitude of man and woman, and in regard to
human freedom from prohibitions imposed by deity. In order to exhibit their
striking contradictions, I will place them in parallel columns:

ELOHISTIC. —- IAHOISTIC.

Order of Creation: —- Order of Creation:
First—Water. —- First—Land.
Second—Land. —- Second—Water.
Third—Vegetation. —- Third—Male Man, only.

Fourth—Animals. —- Fourth—Vegetation.
Fifth—Mankind; male and female. —- Fifth—Animals.
—- Sixth—Woman.

In this story male and female man are created simultaneously, both alike,
in the image of the gods, after animals have been called into existence. —-
In this story male man is sculptured out of clay, before any animals are
created, and before female man has been constructed.

Here, joint dominion over the earth is given to woman and man, without
limit or prohibition. —- Here, woman is punished with subjection to man
for breaking a prohibitory law.

Everything, without exception, is pronounced "very good." —- There is a
tree of evil, whose fruit, is said by Iahveh to cause sudden death, but which
does not do so, as Adam lived 930 years after eating it.

Man and woman are told that "every plant bearing seed upon the face of
the earth and every tree. . . To you it shall be for meat." They are thus given
perfect freedom. —- Man is told there is one tree of which he must not eat,
"for in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die."

Man and woman are given special dominion over all the animals-"every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." —- An animal, a "creeping
thing," is given dominion over man and woman, and proves himself more
truthful than Iahveh Elohim. (Compare Genesis chapter ii, verse 17, with
chapter iii, verses 4 and 22.)

Now as it is manifest that both of these stories cannot be true; intelligent
women, who feel bound to give the preference to either, may decide
according to their own judgment of which is more worthy of an intelligent

woman's acceptance. Paul's rule is a good one in this dilemma, "Prove all
things: hold fast to that which is good." My own opinion is that the second
story was manipulated by some Jew, in an endeavor to give "heavenly
authority" for requiring a woman to obey the man she married. In a work
which I am now completing, I give some facts concerning ancient
Israelitish history, which will be of peculiar interest to those who wish to
understand the origin of woman's subjection.

E. B. D.

Many orientalists and students of theology have maintained that the
consultation of the Gods here described is proof that the Hebrews were in
early days polytheists—Scott's supposition that this is the origin of the
Trinity has no foundation in fact, as the beginning of that conception is to
be found in the earliest of all known religious nature worship. The
acknowledgment of the dual principal, masculine and feminine, is much
more probably the explanation of the expressions here used.

In the detailed description of creation we find a gradually ascending
series. Creeping things, "great sea monsters," (chap. I, V. 21, literal
translation). "Every bird of wing," cattle and living things of the earth, the
fish of the sea and the "birds of the heavens," then man, and last and
crowning glory of the whole, woman.

It cannot be maintained that woman was inferior to man even if, as
asserted in chapter ii, she was created after him without at once admitting
that man is inferior to the creeping things, because created after them.

L. D. B.

CHAPTER II.
Genesis ii, 21-25.

21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he
slept; and be took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh thereof.

22 And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a
woman, and brought her unto the man.

23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh:
she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man.

24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh.

25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not
ashamed.

As the account of the creation in the first chapter is in harmony with
science, common sense, and the experience of mankind in natural laws, the
inquiry naturally arises, why should there be two contradictory accounts in

the same book, of the same event? It is fair to infer that the second version,
which is found in some form in the different religions of all nations, is a
mere allegory, symbolizing some mysterious conception of a highly
imaginative editor.

The first account dignifies woman as an important factor in the creation,
equal in power and glory with man. The second makes her a mere
afterthought. The world in good running order without her. The only reason
for her advent being the solitude of man.

There is something sublime in bringing order out of chaos; light out of
darkness; giving each planet its place in the solar system; oceans and lands
their limits; wholly inconsistent with a petty surgical operation, to find
material for the mother of the race. It is on this allegory that all the enemies
of women rest their battering rams, to prove her inferiority. Accepting the
view that man was prior in the creation, some Scriptural writers say that as
the woman was of the man, therefore, her position should be one of
subjection. Grant it, then as the historical fact is reversed in our day, and the
man is now of the woman, shall his place be one of subjection?

The equal position declared in the first account must prove more
satisfactory to both sexes; created alike in the image of God—The
Heavenly Mother and Father.

Thus, the Old Testament, "in the beginning," proclaims the simultaneous
creation of man and woman, the eternity and equality of sex; and the New
Testament echoes back through the centuries the individual sovereignty of
woman growing out of this natural fact. Paul, in speaking of equality as the
very soul and essence of Christianity, said, "There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all
one in Christ Jesus." With this recognition of the feminine element in the
Godhead in the Old Testament, and this declaration of the equality of the

sexes in the New, we may well wonder at the contemptible status woman
occupies in the Christian Church of to-day.

All the commentators and publicists writing on woman's position, go
through an immense amount of fine-spun metaphysical speculations, to
prove her subordination in harmony with the Creator's original design.

It is evident that some wily writer, seeing the perfect equality of man and
woman in the first chapter, felt it important for the dignity and dominion of
man to effect woman's subordination in some way. To do this a spirit of evil
must be introduced, which at once proved itself stronger than the spirit of
good, and man's supremacy was based on the downfall of all that had just
been pronounced very good. This spirit of evil evidently existed before the
supposed fall of man, hence woman was not the origin of sin as so often
asserted.

E. C. S.

In v. 23 Adam proclaims the eternal oneness of the happy pair, "This is now
bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh;" no hint of her subordination. How
could men, admitting these words to be divine revelation, ever have
preached the subjection of woman!

Next comes the naming of the mother of the race. "She shall be called
Woman," in the ancient form of the word Womb-man. She was man and
more than man because of her maternity.

The assertion of the supremacy of the woman in the marriage relation is
contained in v. 24: "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother
and cleave unto his wife." Nothing is said of the headship of man, but he is

commanded to make her the head of the household, the home, a rule
followed for centuries under the Matriarchate.

L. D. B.

CHAPTER III.

Genesis iii: 1-24.

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the
Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye
shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath
said Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took

of the fruit thereof, and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her;
and he did eat.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the Lord God amongst the trees in the garden.

9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art
thou?

10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because
I was naked; and I hid myself.

11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of
the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?

12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she
gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast
done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this,
thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy
belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy
conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children: and thy desire shall be
to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice
of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying,
Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat
the herb of the field;

19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the
ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return.

20. And Adam called his wife's name Eve: because she was the mother of
all living.

21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins
and clothed them.

22 And the Lord God said, Behold the man is become as one of us, to
know good and evil; and now, let he put forth his hand, and take also of the
tree of life, and eat, and live for ever;

23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till
the ground from whence he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of
Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the
way of the tree of life.

Adam Clarke, in his commentaries, asks the question, "is this an
allegory?" He finds it beset with so many difficulties as an historical fact,
that he inclines at first to regard it as a fable, a mere symbol, of some
hidden truth. His mind seems more troubled about the serpent than any
other personage in the drama. As snakes cannot walk upright, and have
never been known to speak, he thinks this beguiling creature must have
been an ourang-outang, or some species of ape. However, after expressing
all his doubts, he rests in the assumption that it must be taken literally, and
that with higher knowledge of the possibilities of all living things, many
seeming improbabilities will be fully realized.

A learned professor in Yale College,[FN#3] before a large class of
students, expressed serious doubts as to the forbidden fruit being an apple,
as none grew in that latitude. He said it must have been a quince. If the
serpent and the apple are to be withdrawn thus recklessly from the tableaux,
it is feared that with advancing civilization the whole drama may fall into
discredit. Scientists tells us that "the missing link" between the ape and
man, has recently been discovered., so that we can now trace back an
unbroken line of ancestors to the dawn of creation.

[FN#3] Daniel Cady Eaton, Professor of Botany.

As out of this allegory grows the doctrines of original sin, the fall of man,
and woman the author of all our woes, and the curses on the serpent, the
woman, and the man; the Darwinian theory of the gradual growth of the
race from a lower to a higher type of animal life, is more hopeful and
encouraging. However, as our chief interest is in woman's part in the drama,

we are equally pleased with her attitude, whether as a myth in an allegory,
or as the heroine of an historical occurrence.

In this prolonged interview, the unprejudiced reader must be impressed
with the courage, the dignity, and the lofty ambition of the woman. The
tempter evidently had a profound knowledge of human nature, and saw at a
glance the high character of the person he met by chance in his walks in the
garden. He did not try to tempt her from the path of duty by brilliant jewels,
rich dresses, worldly luxuries or pleasures, but with the promise of
knowledge, with the wisdom of the Gods.

Like Socrates or Plato, his powers of conversation and asking puzzling
questions, were no doubt marvellous, and he roused in the woman that
intense thirst for knowledge, that the simple pleasures of picking flowers
and talking with Adam did not satisfy. Compared with Adam she appears to
great advantage through the entire drama.

The curse pronounced on woman is inserted in an unfriendly spirit to
justify her degradation and subjection to man. With obedience to the laws of
health, diet, dress, and exercise, the period of maternity should be one of
added vigor in both body and mind, a perfectly natural operation should not
be attended with suffering. By the observance of physical and psychical
laws the supposed curse can be easily transformed into a blessing. Some
churchmen speak of maternity as a disability, and then chant the Magnificat
in all their cathedrals round the globe. Through all life's shifting scenes, the
mother of the race has been the greatest factor in civilization.

We hear the opinion often expressed, that woman always has, and always
will be in subjection. Neither assertion is true. She enjoyed unlimited
individual freedom for many centuries, and the events of the present day all
point to her speedy emancipation. Scientists now give 85,000 years for the
growth of the race. They assign 60,000 to savagism, 20,000 to barbarism,

and 5,000 to civilization. Recent historians tell us that for centuries woman
reigned supreme. That period was called the Matriarchate. Then man seized
the reins of government, and we are now under the Patriarchate. But we see
on all sides new forces gathering, and woman is already abreast with man in
art, science, literature, and government. The next dynasty, in which both
will reign as equals, will be the Amphiarchate, which is close at hand.

Psychologists tell us of a sixth sense now in process of development, by
which we can read each other's mind and communicate without speech. The
Tempter might have had that sense, as he evidently read the minds of both
the creature and the Creator, if we are to take this account as literally true,
as Adam Clarke advises.

E. C. S.

Note the significant fact that we always hear of the "fall of man," not the
fall of woman, showing that the consensus of human thought has been more
unerring than masculine interpretation. Reading this narrative carefully, it is
amazing that any set of men ever claimed that the dogma of the inferiority
of woman is here set forth. The conduct of Eve from the beginning to the
end is so superior to that of Adam. The command not to eat of the fruit of
the tree of Knowledge was given to the man alone before woman was
formed. Genesis ii, 17. Therefore the injunction was not brought to Eve
with the impressive solemnity of a Divine Voice, but whispered to her by
her husband and equal. It was a serpent supernaturally endowed, a seraphim
as Scott and other commentators have claimed, who talked with Eve, and
whose words might reasonably seem superior to the second-hand story of
her companion nor does the woman yield at once. She quotes the command
not to eat of the fruit to which the serpent replies "Dying ye shall not die,"

v. 4, literal translation. In other words telling her that if the mortal body
does perish, the immortal part shall live forever, and offering as the reward
of her act the attainment of Knowledge.

Then the woman fearless of death if she can gain wisdom takes of the
fruit; and all this time Adam standing beside her interposes no word of
objection. "Her husband with her" are the words of v. 6. Had he been the
representative of the divinely appointed head in married life, he assuredly
would have taken upon himself the burden of the discussion with the
serpent, but no, he is silent in this crisis of their fate. Having had the
command from God himself he interposes no word of warning or
remonstrance, but takes the fruit from the hand of his wife without a protest.
It takes six verses to describe the "fall" of woman, the fall of man is
contemptuously dismissed in a line and a half.

The subsequent conduct of Adam was to the last degree dastardly. When
the awful time of reckoning comes, and the Jehovah God appears to
demand why his command has been disobeyed, Adam endeavors to shield
himself behind the gentle being he has declared to be so dear. "The woman
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me and I did eat," he whines— trying
to shield himself at his wife's expense! Again we are amazed that upon such
a story men have built up a theory of their superiority!

Then follows what has been called the curse. Is it not rather a prediction?
First is the future fate of the serpent described, the enmity of the whole
human race—"it shall lie in wait for thee as to the head" (v. 15, literal
translation). Next the subjection of the woman is foretold, thy husband
"shall rule over thee," v. 16. Lastly the long struggle of man with the forces
of nature is portrayed. "In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat food until thy
turning back to the earth" (v. 19, literal translation). With the evolution of
humanity an ever increasing number of men have ceased to toil for their

bread with their hands, and with the introduction of improved machinery,
and the uplifting of the race there will come a time when there shall be no
severities of labor, and when women shall be freed from all oppressions.

"And Adam called his wife's name Life for she was the mother of all
living" (V. 20, literal translation).

It is a pity that all versions of the Bible do not give this word instead of
the Hebrew Eve. She was Life, the eternal mother, the first representative of
the more valuable and important half of the human race.

L. D. B.

CHAPTER IV.

Genesis iv: 1-12, 19, 21.

1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and
said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep,
but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of
the ground an offering unto the Lord.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat
thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.

5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was
very wroth, and his countenance fell.

6 And the lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy
countenance fallen?

7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted: and if thou doest not
well, sin lieth at the door: and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt
rule over him.

8 And Cain talked with Abet his brother: and it came to pass, when they
were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

9. And the Lord said unto Cain, where is Abel thy brother? And he said
"Am I my brother's keeper?"

10. And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brothers blood
crieth unto me from the ground.

11. And now art thou cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth
to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.

12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee
her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

19. And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was
Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, hear my voice, ye
wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech.

One would naturally suppose that Cain's offering of fruit indicated a
more refined and spiritual idea of the fitness of things than Abel's of animal
food. Why Cain's offering was rejected as unworthy does not appear.

There is something pathetic in Eve's joy and faith at the advent of her
first-born: "Lo I have a man child from the Lord." She evidently thought
that Cain was to be to her a great blessing. Some expositors say that Eve

thought that Cain was the promised seed that was to bruise the serpent's
head; but Adam Clarke, in estimating woman's reasoning powers, says, "it
was too metaphysical an idea for that period." But as that is just what the
Lord said to Eve, she must have had the capacity to understand it. But all
speculations as to what Eve thought in that eventful hour are vain. Clarke
asserts that Cain and Abel were twins. Eve must have been too much
occupied with her vacillating joys and sorrows to have indulged in any
connected train of thought. Her grief in the fratricidal tragedy that followed
can be more easily understood. The dreary environments of the mother, and
the hopeless prophesies of her future struggling life, banished to a dreary,
desolate region, beyond the love and care of her Creator, is revenged on her
children. If Adam and Eve merited the severe punishment inflicted on them,
they should have had some advice from the Heavenly Mother and Father as
to the sin of propagating such an unworthy stock. No good avails in
increasing and multiplying evil propensities and deformities that produce
only crime and misery from generation to generation. During the ante-natal
period the mother should be held sacred, and surrounded with all the
sweetest influences that Heaven and earth can give, loving companionship,
beautiful scenery, music and flowers, and all the pleasures that art in its
highest form can produce.

As the women at this period seem to be myths, no one takes the trouble
to tell from whence they came. It is sufficient that their husbands know, and
it is not necessary that the casual reader should. The question is often asked,
whom did Cain marry? Some expositors say that Adam and Eve had other
sons and daughters living in different parts of the planet, and that they
married each other.

There seems to have been no scarcity of women, for Lamech, Cain's
great grandson, took unto himself two wives. Thus early in the history of

the race polygamic relations were recognized. The phraseology announcing
the marriage of Lamech is very significant.

In the case of Adam and Eve the ceremony was more imposing and
dignified. It was declared an equal relation. But with the announcement of
Lamech's, he simply took two wives, Adah and Zillah. Whether the women
were willingly captured will ever remain an open question. The manner in
which he is accustomed to issue his orders does not indicate a tender
relation between the parties.

"Hear my voice: ye wives of Lamech, and hearken unto my speech!"

As the wives made no reply, it shows that they had already learned that
discreet silence is the only security for domestic happiness.

Naamah the sister of Tubal Cain was supposed to be the wife of Noah.
Her name in Hebrew signifies the beautiful or the gracious. Jewish doctors
say her name is recorded here because she was an upright, chaste woman,
but others affirm the contrary because "the whole world wandered after
her." But the fact that Naamah's beauty attracted the multitude, does not
prove that she either courted or accepted their attentions.

The manner in which the writer of these chapters presents the women so
in conflict with Chapters i and v, which immediately precede and follow,
inclines the unprejudiced mind to relegate the ii, iii and iv chapters to the
realm of fancy as no part of the real history of creation's dawn.

The curse pronounced on Cain is similar to that inflicted on Adam, both
were to till the ground, which was to bring forth weeds abundantly. Hale's
statistics of weeds show their rapid and widespread power of propagation.
"A progeny," he says, "more than sufficient in a few years to stock every
planet of the solar system." In the face of such discouraging facts, Hale

coolly remarks. "Such provisions has the just God made to fulfil the curse
which he promised on man."

It seems far more rational to believe that the curses on both woman and
man were but figments of the human brain, and that by the observance of
natural laws, both labor and maternity may prove great blessings.

With all the modern appliances of steam and electricity, and the new
inventions in machinery, the cultivation of the soil is fast coming to be a
recreation and amusement. The farmer now sits at ease on his plough, while
his steed turns up the furrows at his will. With machinery the sons of Adam
now sow and reap their harvests, keep the wheels of their great
manufactories in motion, and with daily increasing speed carry on the
commerce of the world. The time is at hand when the heavy burdens of the
laborer will all be shifted on the shoulders of these tireless machines. And
when the woman, too, learns and obeys the laws of life, these supposed
curses will be but idle dreams of the past. The curse falls lightly even now
on women who live in natural conditions, and with anaesthetics is
essentially mitigated in all cases.

When these remedial agents were first discovered, some women refused
to avail themselves of their blessings, and some orthodox physicians
refused to administer them, lest they should interfere with the wise
provisions of Providence in making maternity a curse.

E. C. S.

MYTHS OF CREATION.
Nothing would be more interesting in connection with the "Woman's
Bible" than a comparative study of the accounts of the creation held by
people of different races and faiths. Our Norse ancestors, whose myths were
of a very exalted nature, recorded in their Bible, the Edda, that one day the
sons of Bor (a frost giant), Odin, Hoener, and Loder, found two trees on the
sea beach, and from them created the first human pair, man and woman.
Odin gave them life and spirit, Hoener endowed them with reason and
motion, and Loder gave them the senses and physical characteristics. The
man they called Ask, and the woman Embla. Prof. Anderson finds in the
brothers the threefold Trinity of the Bible. It is easy to fancy that there is
some philological connection between the names of the first pair in the
Bible and in the Edda. Perhaps the formation of the first pair out of trees
had a deep connection with the tree of life, Ygdrasil, which extended,
according to Norse mythology throughout the universe, furnishing bodies
for mankind from its branches. It had three great roots, one extending to the
nebulous world, and this was constantly gnawed by the serpent Nidhug.
There was nothing in the Norse mythology that taught the degradation of
woman, and the lay of Sigdrifa, in the Edda, is one of the noblest
conceptions of the character of woman in all literature.

North American Indian mythology has the human race born of the earth,
but the writer cannot learn that women held an inferior place. Among the
Quiches the mothers and fathers of old slept in the waters, covered with
green, under a limpid twilight, from which the earth and they were called
out by a mighty wind. The Algonkins believed the human family were the
children of Michabo, the spirit of the dawn, and their supreme deity. In their
language the words earth, mother and father were from the same root. Many

tribes claim descent from a raven, symbolizing the clouds; others from a
dog, which is the symbol of the water goddess.

Dr. and Madame Le Plongeon relate that in their discoveries among the
buried remains of the Mayas in Yucatan, everything marks a very high state
of civilization. In one of the exhumed temples they found pictures on the
walls, which seem to be a combination of the stories of the Garden of Eden
and Cain and Abel. The Serpent was always the royal emblem, because the
shape of Yucatan is that of a serpent ready to spring. It was the custom
among the Mayas for the oldest son of the king to be a priest, and the
second son to marry the oldest daughter. The pictures represent that the
oldest son in this particular case was dissatisfied with this arrangement, and
wanted to marry the sister himself. To tempt her he sends a basket of apples
by a messenger. He stands watching the way in which the present is
received, and the serpent in the picture (indicating the royal family), makes
it curiously suggestive of the temptation of Eve. The sister, however, rejects
the present, and this so enrages the elder brother that he kills the younger,
who accordingly is deified by the Mayas. The image of Chacmohl was
discovered by the Le Plongeons, and is now in the possession of the
Mexican Government. Perhaps these brothers were twins, as the
commentator says Cain and Abel were, and that gave rise to the jealousy.

Nothing can surpass in grandeur the account in the first chapter of
Genesis of the creation of the race, and it satisfies the highest aspirations
and the deepest longings of the human soul. No matter of what material
formed, or through how many ages the formative period ran, or is to run,
the image of God is the birthright of man, male and female. Whatever the
second chapter may mean, it cannot set aside the first. It probably has a
deep spiritual significance which mankind will appreciate when cavilling
about the letter ceases. To the writer's mind its meaning is best expressed in
the words of Goethe:—- "The eternal womanly leads us on."

C. B. C.

CHAPTER V.

Genesis v: 1, 2.

1. This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God
created man, in the likeness of God made he him.

2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their
name Adam, in the day when they were created.

Here we have the first account of the dual creation verified. Man and
woman a simultaneous creation, alike in the image of God.

The dual relation, both in the Godhead and humanity, is here again
declared, though contradicted in the intervening chapters. In this and the
following chapters we have a prolix statement of the births, deaths, and
ages in the male line. They all take wives, beget sons, but nothing is said of
the origin or destiny of the wives and daughters; they are incidentally
mentioned merely as necessary factors in the propagation of the male line.

The men of this period seem to have lived to a ripe old age, but nothing is
said of the age of the women; it is probable as child- bearing was their chief
ambition, that men had a succession of wives, all gathered to their fathers in
the prime of life. Although Eve and her daughters devoted their energies to
this occupation, yet the entire credit for the growth of the race is given to
Adam and his male descendants. In all this chapter the begetting of the
oldest son is made prominent, his name only is given, and the begetting of
more "sons and daughters" is cursorily mentioned. Here is the first
suggestion of the law of primogeniture responsible for so many of the evils
that perplexed our Saxon fathers.

E. C. S.

Genesis vi: 1-8, 14-22.

1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the
earth, and daughters were born unto them,

2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and
they took them wives of all which they chose.

3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that
he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when
the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children
to them, the same became mighty men which were as of old, men of
renown.

5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And it repented the Lord that he had made them man on the earth, and
it grieved him at his heart.

7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the
face of the earth; both man and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls
of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

13 And God said unto Noah,

14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark,
and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of; The length of the
ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits and the height
of it thirty cubits.

16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it
above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower,
second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to
destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven, and
everything that is in the earth shall die.

18 But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into
the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou
bring in to the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and
female.

20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every
creeping thing of the earth, after his kind; two of every sort shall come unto
thee, to keep them alive.

21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather
it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.

22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

The Jews evidently believed the males the superior sex. Men are called
"the sons of God," women "the daughters of men." From the text it would
seem that the influence of the wives was not elevating and inspiring, and
that the sin and misery resulting from their marriages, all attributed to the
women. 'This condition of things so discouraged the Creator that he
determined to blot out both man and beast, the fowls of the air and the
creeping things on the earth. How very human this sounds. It shows what a
low ideal the Jews had of the great first cause, from which the moral and
material world of thought and action were evolved.

It was in mature life, when chastened by the experiences and trials of her
early day, that Seth was born to Eve. It was among the descendants of Seth
that purer morals and religion were cultivated. Intermarriage with the
descendants of Cain had corrupted the progeny, perplexed the Creator, and
precipitated the flood.

The female of each species of animal was preserved; males and females
all walked into the ark two by two, and out again in equal and loving

companionship. It has been a question with critics whether the ark was large
enough for all it was supposed to contain. Commentators seem to agree as
to its capacity to accommodate men, women, children, animals, and the
food necessary for their preservation. Adam Clarke tells us that Noah and
his family and the birds occupied the third, story, so they had the benefit of
the one window it contained.

The paucity of light and air in this ancient vessel shows that woman had
no part in its architecture, or a series of port holes would have been deemed
indispensable. Commentators relegate all difficulties to the direct
intervention of Providence. The ark, made by unseen hands, like a palace of
india rubber, was capable of expanding indefinitely; the spirit of all good,
caused the lion and lamb to lie down peaceably together. To attribute all the
myths, allegories, and parables to the interposition of Providence, ever
working outside of his own inexorable laws, is to confuse and set at
defiance human reason, and prevent all stimulus to investigation.

In several following chapters we have the history of Abram and Sarah,
their wanderings from the land of their nativity to Canaan, their blunders on
the journey, their grief at having no children, except one son by Hagar, his
concubine, who was afterwards driven from their door, into the wilderness.
However, Sarah in her old age was blessed with a son of her own, which
event gave them great joy and satisfaction. As Sarah did not possess any of
the heroic virtues, worthy our imitation, we need not linger either to praise
or blame her characteristics. Neither she nor Abraham deemed it important
to speak the truth when any form of tergiversation might serve them. In fact
the wives of the patriarchs, all untruthful, and one a kleptomaniac, but
illustrate the law, that the cardinal virtues are seldom found in oppressed
classes.

E. C. S.

A careful study of the Bible would alter the views of many as to what it
teaches about the position of women. The trouble is too often instead of
searching the Bible to see what is right, we form our belief, and then search
for Bible texts to sustain us, and are satisfied with isolated texts without
regard to context, and ask no questions as to the circumstances that may
have existed then but do not now. We forget that portions of the Bible are
only histories of events given as a chain of evidence to sustain the fact that
the real revelations of the Godhead, be it in any form, are true. Second, that
our translators were not inspired, and that we have strong presumptive
proof that prejudice of education was in some instances stronger than the
grammatical context, in translating these contested points. For instance, the
word translated obey between husband and wife, is in but one instance in
the New Testament the word used between master and servant, parent and
child, but is the word that in other places is translated defer. The one
instance states Sarah obeyed Abram. Read that history and you will find
that in both instances in which she obeyed, God had to interfere with a
miracle to save them from the result of that obedience, and both Abram and
Sarah were reproved. While twice, once by direct command of God, Abram
obeyed Sarah. You cannot find a direct command of God or Christ for the
wife to obey the husband.

It was Eve's curse that her desire should be to her husband, and he should
rule over her. Have you not seen her clinging to a drunken or brutal
husband, and read in letters of fire upon her forehead her curse? But God
did not say the curse was good, nor bid Adam enforce it. Nor did he say, all
men shall rule over thee. For Adam, not Eve, the earth was to bring forth
the thorn and the thistle, and he was to eat his bread by the sweat of his
brow. Yet I never heard a sermon on the sin of uprooting weeds, or letting
Eve, as she does, help him to bear his burden. It is when she tries to lighten
her load that the world is afraid of sacrilege and the overthrow of nature.

C. B. C.

In the story "of the sons of God, and the daughters of men"—we find a
myth like those of Greek, Roman and Scandinavian fable, demi-gods love
mortal maidens and their offspring are giants. Then follows the traditional
account of some great cataclysm of the last glacial epoch. According to the
latest geological students, Wright, McGee and others; the records of
Niagara, the falls of St. Anthony and other glacial chasms, indicate that the
great ice caps receded for the last time about seven thousand years ago; the
latest archeological discoveries carry our historical knowledge of mankind
back nearly four thousand years B. C., so that some record of the mighty
floods which must have followed the breaking of great glacial dams might
well survive in the stories of the nations.

Abram who came from Ur of the Chaldees brought with him the
Chaldean story of the flood. At that time Ur, now a town fifty miles inland,
was a great seaport of the Persian gulf. Their story of the flood is that of a
maritime people; in it the ark is a well built ship, Hasisadra, the Chaldean
Noah takes on board not only his own family, but his neighbors and friends;
a pilot is employed to guide the course, and proper provision is made for the
voyage. A raven and a dove are sent out as in the biblical account, and a
fortunate landing effected.

L. D. B.

CHAPTER VI.

Genesis xxi.

1 And the lord visited Sarah as he had said.

2. For Sarah bare Abraham a son in his old age.

3 And Abraham called the name of his son whom Sarah bare to him,
Isaac.

5 And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born
unto him.

6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will
laugh with me.

9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had home
unto Abraham, mocking.

10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her
son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with

Isaac.

11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight.

12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight; in all
that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy
seed be called.

13 And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because
he is thy seed.

14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a
bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the
child, and sent her away; and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness
of Beer-sheba.

15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one
of the shrubs.

17 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off: for
she said, let me not see the death of the child. And she lifted up her voice,
and wept.

17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to
Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not,
for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

18 Arise, lift up the lad, and bold him in thine hand: for I will make him a
great nation.

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water: and she went,
and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness,
and became an archer.

21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a
wife out of the land of Egypt.

The great event of Isaac's birth having taken place, Sarah is represented
through several chapters as laughing, even in the presence of angels, not
only in the anticipation of motherhood, but in its realization. She evidently
forgot that maternity was intended as a curse on all Eve's daughters, for the
sin of the first woman, and all merry-making on such occasions was
unpardonable. Some philosophers consider the most exalted of all forms of
love to be that of a mother for her children. But this divine awakening of a
new affection does not seem to have softened Sarah's heart towards her
unfortunate slave Hagar. And so far from Sarah's desire being to her
husband, and Abraham dominating her, he seemed to be under her control,
as the Lord told him "to hearken to her voice, and to obey her command."
In so doing he drives Hagar out of his house.

In this scene Abraham does not appear in a very attractive light, rising
early in the morning, and sending his child and its mother forth into the
wilderness, with a breakfast of bread and water, to care for themselves.
Why did he not provide them with a servant, an ass laden with provisions,
and a tent to shelter them from the elements, or better still, some abiding,
resting place. Common humanity demanded this much attention to his own
son and the woman who bore him. But the worst feature in this drama is
that it seems to have been done with Jehovah's approval.

Does any one seriously believe that the great spirit of all good talked with
these Jews, and really said the extraordinary things they report? It was,
however, a very cunning way for the Patriarchs to enforce their own

authority, to do whatever they desired, and say the Lord commanded them
to do and say thus and so. Many pulpits even in our day enforce their
lessons of subjection for woman with the same authority, "Thus saith the
Lord," "Thou shalt," and "Thou shall not."

E. C. S.

Genesis xxiii.

1 And Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old.

2 And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of
Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons
of Heth, saying,

4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a
burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him.

6 Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of
our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his
sepulchre.

7 And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land.

8 And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should
bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat Ephron the son of

Zohar.

9 That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in
the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth.

14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him.

15 My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of
silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.

16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to
Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth,
four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.

19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field
of Machpelah before Mamre.

20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto
Abraham for a burying place by the sons of Heth.

It is seldom that the age and death of any woman, are recorded by the
sacred historian, but Sarah seems to have been specially honored, not only
in the mention of her demise and ripe years, but in the tender manifestations
of grief by Abraham, and his painstaking selection of her burial place. That
Abraham paid for all this in silver, "current money with the merchant,"
might suggest to the financiers of our day that our commercial relations
might be adjusted with the same coin, especially as we have plenty of it.

If our bimetallists in the halls of legislation were conversant with sacred
history, they might get fresh inspiration from the views of the Patriarchs on
good money.

Some critics tell us that there was no coined money at that time; the
Israelites had no written language, no commerce with neighboring tribes,
and that they could neither read nor write.

Whilst we drop a tear at the tomb of Sarah, we cannot recommend her as
an example to the young women of our day, as she lacked several of the
cardinal virtues. She was undignified, untruthful, and unkind to Hagar. But
our moral standard differs from that of the period in which she lived, as our
ideas of right and wrong are not innate, but depend on education. Sarah
probably lived up to the light that was in her.

E. C. S.

The cruelty and injustice of Abraham and Sarah, as commented on by Mrs.
Stanton, doubtless stand out much more prominently in this condensed
account than their proper proportions to the motives which actuated the
figures in the drama. If we take any part of the story we must take it all, and
remember that it had been promised to Abraham that of Ishmael a great
nation should be born. Whether this was an actual revelation from God, or a
prophetic vision that Abraham had, or is interpolated by the historian to
correspond with the actual facts that transpired, in either case the firm belief
that no harm could come to Ishmael, must be taken into account when
estimating the motives which led Abraham and Sarah, for doubtless
Abraham told Sarah of his vision, to send Hagar and her son off into the
wilderness; just as much as the firm belief that the promise of God with
regard to his seed would be fulfilled made Abraham, a little afterward,
prepare to offer up his son Isaac.

Abraham loved and honored his wife very greatly, probably admiring
equally her beauty and strength of character. Abraham was ten years older

than Sarah and we read that he was seventy-five years old when he started
from Haran for the land of Canaan. Some time after this driven, by famine,
he went down into Egypt, and here when she must have been at least
seventy years of age the Egyptians saw that she was very fair, and the
princes of Pharaoh so praised her beauty to their royal master that he sent
and took her for his wife. The same thing happened when she was ninety
years old, when she was seized by Abimelech, king of Gerar. In both cases
they told, not a lie, but a half truth, for Sarah was Abraham's half sister, it
being then the custom for children of the same father by different mothers
to marry. Abraham's deceit was brought about by cowardice, while Sarah
connived at the fraud for love of her husband, being besought to do so to
save his life. Perhaps, too, she might have been amenable to the gracious
tribute to her beauty that Abraham gave in making the request.

Sarah's strength of character is shown all through her history. Wherever
she is mentioned the reader is made to feet that she is an important part of
the narrative, and not merely a connecting link between two generations. In
this story she carries her point, and Abraham follows her instructions
implicitly, nay, is even commanded by God to do so.

Notwithstanding that Abraham mourned Sarah so sincerely, within three
years after she died, and when at the ripe age of a hundred and forty years,
he married again and the six children he begat by Keturah he took quite as a
matter of course, although half a century before, when told that a son should
be born to him, he laughed incredulously. Abraham had his failings, some
of which are shared by the moderns, yet doubtless he was a moral giant
compared with other men of the land from which he came and of the
nations around him. As such he was chosen as the founder of a race whose
history should promulgate the idea of the one true God. Certainly the
descendants from this remarkable trio have retained their own peculiar
characteristics and have ever been worshippers at the shrine of Jehovah.

A singular fact may be mentioned here that Mrs. Souvielle in her book
"The Sequel to the Parliament of Religions," has shown that from
Midian, one of the sons of Keturah, came Jethro or Zoroaster.

Western thinkers are so matter-of-fact in their speech and thought that it
might not have occurred to them that the true value of this story of Sarah
and Hagar, like that of all else, not only in our own Bible but in the
scriptures of other faiths, lies in the esoteric meaning, had it not been for
Paul, that prince of occult philosophers, who distinctly says, according to
the old version, that it is an allegory; according to the revised, that it
contains an allegory: "for these women are two covenants," one bearing,
children unto bondage, the other unto freedom. It is our privilege, Paul goes
on to teach, to be children of the free woman, but although we are this by
birthright, yet there has to be a personal appreciation of that fact, and an
effort to maintain our liberty. The mystical significance of this allegory has
never been elucidated in reference to the position of woman, but it may well
be considered as establishing her claim, not only for personal freedom, but
for the integrity of the home. Acting according to the customs of the day,
Sarah connived at her own degradation. Later, when her womanly dignity
was developed by reason of her motherhood, she saw what should be her
true position in her home, and she made her rightful demand for unrivalled
supremacy in that home and in her husband's affections. She was blessed of
God in taking that attitude, and was held up to the elect descendants of
Abraham nearly 1660 years later by the Apostle Peter as an example to be
imitated. And these later women are to be Sarah's daughters, we are told, if
like her, they "are not afraid with any amazement," or as the new version
hath it, if they "are not put in fear by any terror."

Even as mere history the life and character of Sarah certainly do not
intimate that it was the Divine plan that woman was to be a subordinate,
either in person or in her home. Taken esoterically, as all ancient Oriental

writings must be to get their full significance, it is an inspiration to woman
to-day to stand for her liberty. The bondwoman must be cast out. All that
makes for industrial bondage, for sex slavery and humiliation, for the
dwarfing of individuality, and for the thralldom of the soul, must be cast out
from our home, from society, and from our lives. The woman who does not
claim her birthright of freedom will remain in the wilderness with the
children that she has borne in degradation, heart starvation, and anguish of
spirit, only to find that they are Ishmaels, with their hand against every
man. They will be the subjects of Divine care and protection until their
destiny is worked out. But she who is to be the mother of kings must herself
be free, and have surroundings conducive to maintaining her own purity
and dignity. After long ages of freedom shall have eradicated from woman's
mind and heart the thought habits of the slave, then will she be a true
daughter of Sarah, the Princess.

C. B. C.

Abraham has been held up as one of the model men of sacred history. One
credit he doubtless deserves, he was a monotheist, in the midst of the
degraded and cruel forms of religion then prevalent in all the oriental world;
this man and his wife saw enough of the light to worship a God of Spirit.
Yet we find his conduct to the last degree reprehensible. While in Egypt in
order to gain wealth he voluntarily surrenders his wife to Pharaoh. Sarah
having been trained in subjection to her husband had no choice but to obey
his will. When she left the king, Abraham complacently took her back
without objection, which was no more than he should do seeing that her
sacrifice had brought him wealth and honor. Like many a modern
millionaire he was not a self-made but a wife-made man. When Pharaoh
sent him away with his dangerously beautiful wife he is described as,

"being rich in cattle, in silver and in gold," but it is a little curious that the
man who thus gained wealth as the price of his wife's dishonor should have
been held up as a model of all the patriarchal virtues.

L. D. B.

CHAPTER VII.

Genesis xxiv.

37 And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shall not take a wife to
my son of the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell.

38 But thou shalt go unto my fathers house, and to my kindred, and take
a wife unto my son.

39 And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow
me.

40 And he said unto me, The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his
angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son
of my kindred, and of my father's house:

42 And I came this day unto the well, and said, O Lord God of my master
Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go:

43 Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that
when the virgin cometh to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray

thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink:

44 And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for the
camels: let the same be the woman whom the Lord hath appointed out for
my master's son.

45 And before I had done speaking in mine heart behold Rebekah came
forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well,
and drew water: and I said unto her; Let me drink, I pray thee.

46 And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and
said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made
the camels drink also.

47 And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The
daughter of Bethuel Nabor's son, whom Malcah bare unto him: and I put the
earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands.

49 And now, if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and
if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.

50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said. The thing proceedeth
from the Lord: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.

51 Behold, Rebekah is before thee; take her, and go, and let her be thy
master's son's wife, as the Lord hath spoken.

53 And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and
raiment, and gave them to Rebekah; he gave also to her brother and to her
mother precious things.

56 And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the Lord hath prospered
my way; send me away that I may go to my master.

57 And they said, we will call the damsel and inquire at her mouth.

58 And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this
man? And she said, I will go.

59 And they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse and Abraham's
servant, and his men.

61 And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels,
and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah and went his way.

63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he
lifted up his eyes, and saw, and behold, the camels were coming.

64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she lighted
off the camel.

65 For she had said unto the servant, What man is that walketh in the
field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she
took a vail, and covered herself.

66 And the servant told Isaac all things that be had done.

67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah,
and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after
his mother's death.

Here is the first account we have of a Jewish courtship. The Women seem
quite as resigned to the custom of "being taken" as the men "to take."
Outside parties could no doubt in most cases make more judicious
selections of partners, than young folks themselves under the glamour of

their ideals. Altogether the marriage of Isaac, though rather prosaic, has a
touch of the romantic.

It has furnished the subject for some charming pictures, that decorate the
galleries in the old world and the new. "Rebekah at the well," has been
immortalized both on canvas and in marble. Women as milk-maids and
drawers of water, with pails and pitchers on their heads, are always artistic,
and far more attractive to men than those with votes in their hands at the
polling booths, or as queens, ruling over the destinies of nations.

In fact, as soon as man left Paradise, he began by degrees to roll off of his
own shoulders all he could of his curse, and place it on woman. Why did
not Laban and Bethuel draw the water for the household and the cattle.
Scott says that Eliezer had attendants with him who might have saved
Rebekah the labor of drawing water for ten camels, but he would not
interfere, as he wished to see whether she possessed the virtues of industry,
affability and cheerfulness in being serviceable and hospitable.

It was certainly a good test of her patience and humility to draw water for
an hour, with a dozen men looking on at their case, and none offering help.
The Rebekahs of 1895 would have promptly summoned the spectators to
share their labors, even at the risk of sacrificing a desirable matrimonial
alliance. The virtue of self-sacrifice has its wise limitations. Though it is
most commendable to serve our fellow- beings, yet woman's first duty is to
herself, to develop all her own powers and possibilities, that she may better
guide and serve the next generation.

It is refreshing to find in the fifty-eighth verse that Rebekah was really
supposed to have some personal interest and rights in the betrothal.

The meeting of Isaac and Rebekah in the field at eventide is charming.
That sweet restful hour after the sun had gone down, at the end of a long

journey from a far-off country. Rebekah must have been in just the mood to
appreciate a strong right arm on which to rest, a loving heart to trust, on the
threshold of her conjugal life. To see her future lord for the first time, must
have been very embarrassing to Rebekah. She no doubt concealed her
blushes behind her veil, which Isaac probably raised at the first opportunity,
to behold the charms of the bride whom the Lord had chosen for him. As
Isaac was forty years old at this time, he probably made a most judicious
and affectionate husband.

The 67th verse would be more appropriate to the occasion if the words
"took Rebekah" had been omitted, leaving the text to read thus: "And Isaac
brought her into his mother's tent, and she became his wife, and he loved
her." This verse is remarkable as the first announcement of love on the part
of a husband at first sight. We may indulge the hope that he confessed his
love to Rebekah, and thus placed their conjugal relations on a more spiritual
plane than was usual in those days. The Revising Committees by the
infusion of a little sentiment into these ancient manuscripts, might have
improved the moral tone of our ancestors' domestic relations, without
falsifying the important facts of history. Many ancient writings in both
sacred and profane history might be translated into more choice language,
to the advantage of the rising generation. What we glean in regard to
Rebekah's character in the following chapter shows, she, too, is lacking in a
nice sense of honor.

With our ideal of the great first cause, a God of justice, wisdom and truth,
the Jewish Lord, guiding and directing that people in all their devious ways,
and sanctioning their petty immoralities seems strangely out of place; a very
contradictory character, unworthy our love and admiration. The ancient
Jewish ideal of Jehovah was not an exalted one.

E. C. S.

This romantic pastoral is most instructive as to the high position which
women really held among the people whose religious history is the
foundation of our own, and still further substantiates our claim that the
Bible does not teach woman's subordination. The fact that Rebekah was
drawing water for family use does not indicate lack of dignity in her
position, any more than the household tasks performed by Sarah. The wives
and daughters of patriarchal families had their maid-servants just as the men
of the family had their man-servants, and their position indicates only a
division of responsibility. At this period, although queens and princesses
were cooks and waiters, kings and princes did not hesitate to reap their own
fields and slay their own cattle. We are told that Abraham rushed out to his
herd and caught a calf to make a meal for the strangers, and that while he
asked Sarah to make the cakes, he turned over the calf to a man servant to
prepare for the table. Thus the labor of securing the food fell upon the male
sex, while the labor of preparing it was divided between both.

The one supreme virtue among the patriarchs was hospitality, and no
matter how many servants a person had it must be the royal service of his
own hands that he performed for a guest. In harmony with this spirit
Rebekah volunteered to water the thirsty camels of the tired and way-worn
travellers. It is not at all likely that, as Mr. Scott suggests, Eliezer waited
simply to test Rebekah's amiability. The test which he had asked for was
sufficiently answered by her offering the service in the first place, and
doubtless it would have been a churlish and ungracious; breach of courtesy
to have refused the proffered kindness.

That the Jewish women were treated with greater politeness than the
daughters of neighboring peoples we may learn from the incident narrated
of the daughters of Jethro who, even though their father was high priest of
the country were driven away by the shepherds from the wells where they
came to water their flocks. Of all outdoor occupations that of watering

thirsty animals is, perhaps, the most fascinating, and if the work was harder
for Rebekah than for our country maidens who water their animals from the
trough well filled by the windmill she had the strength and the will for it,
else she would have entrusted the task to some of the damsels of whom we
read as her especial servants and who, as such, accompanied her to the land
of Canaan.

The whole narrative shows Rebekah's personal freedom and dignity. She
was alone at some distance from her family. She was not afraid of the
strangers, but greeted them with the self-possession of a queen. The
decision whether she should go or stay, was left wholly with herself, and
her nurse and servants accompanied her. With grace and modesty she
relieved the embarrassment of the situation by getting down from the
altitude of the camel when Isaac came to meet her, and by enshrouding
herself in a veil she very tactfully gave him an opportunity to do his
courting in his own proper person, if he should be pleased to do so after
hearing the servant's report.

It has been the judgment of masculine commentators that the veil was a
sign of woman's subject condition, but even this may be disputed now that
women are looking into history for themselves. The fashion of veiling a
prospective bride was common to many nations, but to none where there
were brutal ceremonies. The custom was sometimes carried to the extent, as
in some parts of Turkey, of keeping the woman wholly covered for eight
days previous to marriage, sometimes, as among the Russians, by not only
veiling the bride, but putting a curtain between her and the groom at the
bridal feast. In all cases the veil seems to have been worn to protect a
woman from premature or unwelcome intrusion, and not to indicate her
humiliated position. The veil is rather a reflection upon the habits and
thoughts of men than a badge of inferiority for women.

How serenely beautiful and chaste appear the marriage customs of the
Bible as compared with some that are wholly of man's invention. The
Kamchatkan had to find his future wife alone and then fight with her and
her female friends until every particle of clothing had been stripped from
her and then the ceremony was complete. This may be called the other
extreme from the veil. Something akin to this appears among our own kith
and kin, so to speak, in modern times. Many instances of marriage en
chemise are on record in England of quite recent dates, the notion being that
if a man married a woman in this garment only he was not liable for any
debts which she might previously have contracted. At Whitehaven,
England, 1766, a woman stripped herself to her chemise in the church and
in that condition stood at the altar and was married.

There is nothing so degrading to the wife in all Oriental customs as our
modern common law ruling that the husband owns the wife's clothing. This
has been so held times innumerable, and in Connecticut quite recently a
husband did not like the gowns his wife bought so he burned them. He was
arrested for destruction of property, but his claim was sustained that they
were his own so he could not be punished.

As long as woman's condition, outside of the Bible, has been as described
by Macaulay when he said: "If there be a word of truth in history, women
have been always, and still are over the greater part of the globe, humble
companions, play things, captives, menials, and beasts of burden," it is a
comfort to reflect that among the Hebrews, whose records are relied on by
the enemies of woman's freedom to teach her subjection, we find women
holding the dignified position in the family that was held by Sarah and
Rebekah.

C. B. C.

CHAPTER VIII.

Genesis xxv.

1 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.

2 And she bare him Zimran and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and
Ishbak, and Shuah.

5 And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.

6 But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham
gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, unto
the east country.

7 And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which be lived, a
hundred and three score and fifteen years.

8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost.

9 And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the grave of Machpelah.

10 The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth; there was
Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.

21 And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife, and Rebekah his wife
conceived.

24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled she bore twins. I

27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field;
and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison; but Rebekah
loved Jacob.

29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was
faint.

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red
pottage, for I am faint; therefore was his name called Edom.

31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die; and what profit shall
this birthright do to me?

33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him; and he
sold his birthright unto Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and
drink, and rose up, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

In these verses we have the account of Abraham's second marriage, and
the birth of several sons. It does not seem clear from the text whether

Keturah was a legal wife, or one of the Patriarch's numerous concubines.
Clarke inclines to the latter idea, on account of Abraham's age, and then he
gave all that be had to Isaac, and left Keturah's sons to share with those of
other concubines, to whom he gave gifts and sent them away from his son
Isaac to an eastern country. Abraham evidently thought that the descendants
of Isaac might be superior in moral probity to those of his other sons, hence
he desired to keep Isaac as exclusive as possible. But Jacob and Esau did
not fulfill the Patriarch's expectations. Esau in selling his birthright for a
mess of pottage, and Jacob taking advantage of his brother in a weak
moment, and overreaching him in a bargain, alike illustrate the hereditary
qualities of their ancestors.

Genesis xxvi.

6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

7 And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my
sister; for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the
place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said Behold, or a surety she is thy
wife; and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him,
Because I said, Lest I die for her.

11 And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this
man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the
daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the

Hittite;

35 Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

The account of the private family affairs of Isaac and Rebekah; their
partiality to different sons; Jacob, aided and abetted by his mother, robbing
his elder brother of both his birthright and his father's blessing; the parents
on one of their eventful journeys representing themselves as brother and
sister, instead of husband and wife, for fear that some potentate might kill
Isaac, in order to possess his beautiful wife; all these petty deceptions
handed down from generation to generation, show that the law of heredity
asserted itself even at that early day.

Abraham through fear denied that Sarah was his wife, and Isaac does the
same thing. The grief of Isaac and Rebekah over Esau, was not that he took
two wives, but that they were Hittites. Chapter xxvii gives the details of the
manner that Jacob and his mother betrayed Isaac into giving the blessing to
Jacob intended for Esau. One must read the whole story in order to
appreciate the blind confidence Isaac placed in Rebekah's integrity; the
pathos of his situation; the bitter disappointment of Esau; Jacob's
temptation, and the supreme wickedness of Rebekah in deceiving Isaac,
defrauding Esau, and undermining the moral sense of the son she loved.

Having entirely undermined his moral sense, Rebekah fears the influence
of Jacob's marriage with a daughter of the Hittites, and she sends him to her
own people, to find a wife in the household of her uncle Laban. This is
indeed a sad record of the cruel deception that Jacob and his mother palmed
off on Isaac and Esau. Both verbal and practical lying were necessary to
defraud the elder son, and Rebekah was equal to the occasion. Neither she
nor Jacob faltered in the hour of peril. Altogether it is a pitiful tale of greed
and deception. Alas! where can a child look for lessons in truth, honor, and

generosity, when the mother they naturally trust, sets at defiance every
principle of justice and mercy to secure some worldly advantage. Rebekah
in her beautiful girlhood at the well drawing water for man and beast, so
full of compassion, does not exemplify the virtues we looked for, in her
mature womanhood. The conjugal and maternal relations so far from
expanding her most tender sentiments, making the heart from love to, one
grow bountiful to all, seem rather to have narrowed hers into the extreme of
individual selfishness. In obedience to his mother's commands, Jacob starts
on his journey to find a fitting wife. If Sarah and Rebekah are the types of
womanhood the Patriarchs admired, Jacob need not have gone far to find
their equal.

In woman's struggle for freedom during the last half century, men have
been continually pointing her to the women of the Bible for examples
worthy imitation, but we fail to see the merits of their character, their
position, the laws and sentiments concerning them. The only significance of
dwelling on these women and this period of woman's history, is to show the
absurd ity of pointing the women of the nineteenth century to these as
examples of virtue.

E. C. S.

Keturah is spoken of as a concubine in I Chronicles i, 32. As such she held
a recognized legal position which implied no disgrace in those days of
polygamy, only the children of these secondary wives were not equal in
inheritance. For this reason the sons of Keturah had to be satisfied with gifts
while Isaac received the patrimony. Notice the charge of Abimelech to his
people showing the high sense of honor in this Philistine. He seems also in
the 10th verse to have realized the terrible guilt that it would have been if

one of them had taken Rebekah, not knowing she was Isaac's wife. With all
Rebekah's faults she seems to have had things her own way and therefore
she did not set any marked example of wifely submission for women of to-
day to follow. Her great error was deceiving her husband to carry her point
and this is always the result where woman is deprived in any degree of
personal freedom unless she has attained high moral development.

C. B. C.

CHAPTER IX.

Genesis xxix.

1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of
the east.

3 And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and lo, there were three
flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks; and
a great stone was upon the well's mouth.

3 And thither were all the flocks gathered, and they rolled the stone from
the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the
well's mouth in his place.

4 And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said,
Of Haran are we.

5 And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they
said, we know him.

6 And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and
behold Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.

9 And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep:
for she kept them.

10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban
his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, and
Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered
the flock of Laban his mother's brother.

11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept.

12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, and that he was
Rebekah's son: and she ran and told her father:

13 And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister's
son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and
brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.

14 And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he
abode with him the space of a month.

15 And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldst
thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?

18 And Jacob loved Rachel: and said, I will serve thee seven years for
Rachel thy younger daughter.

19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should
give her to another man, abide with me.

20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed unto him
but a few days, for the love he had to her.

21 If And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are
fulfilled.

Jacob's journey to the land of Canaan in search of a wife, and the details
of his courtship, have a passing interest with the ordinary reader, interested
in his happiness and success. The classic ground for the cultivation of the
tender emotions in these early days, seems to have been near a well, where
the daughters of those who were rich in flocks and herds found
opportunities to exhibit their fine points in drawing water for men and
cattle. From the records of these interesting events, the girls seemed ready
to accept the slightest advances from passing strangers, and to give their
hands and hearts as readily as they gave a drink of water to the thirsty.
Marriage was as simple a contract as the purchase of a lamb, the lamb and
the woman having about an equal voice in the purchase, though the lamb
was not quite as ready to leave his accustomed grazing ground. Jacob loved
Rachel at first sight, and agreed to serve Laban seven years, but when the
time expired Laban did not keep his agreement, but insisted on Jacob taking
the other sister, and serving seven years more for Rachel. Jacob submitted,
but by the knowledge of a physiological law of which Laban was ignorant,
he revenged himself, and obtained all the strongest and best of the flocks
and herds. Thus in their business relations as well as in family matters, the
Patriarchs seem to have played as sharp games in overreaching each other
as the sons of our Pilgrim Fathers do to-day. In getting all they could out of
Laban, Jacob and Rachel seem to have been of one mind.

A critical study of the Pentateuch is just now agitating the learned classes
in Germany. Bonn is an ancient stronghold of theological learning, and two
of the professors of its famous university have recently exhibited a courage

in Biblical criticism and interpretation which has further extended the
celebrity of the school, if it has not added to its repute for orthodoxy. In a
course of lectures held during the university holidays, addressed to and
largely attended by pastors, they declared the Old Testament history to "be a
series of legends, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob mythical persons." Israel,
they declared, was an idolatrous people, Jehovah being nothing more than a
"God of the Jewish Nation." This radical outbreak of criticism and
interpretation has aroused considerable attention throughout Germany, and
a declaration against it and other teachings of the kind has been signed by
some hundreds of pastors and some thousands of laymen, but so far it has
produced no effect whatever on the professors of Bonn, and there is no
prospect of its doing so. It is fortunate for the faith thus assailed that the
critical and rhetorical style of the ordinary German professor is too heavy
for export or general circulation. So that the theories of Messrs. Graef and
Meinhold are not likely to do the faith of the Fatherland any particular
harm. That country has always been divided into two classes, one of which
believes nothing and the other everything, the latter numerically
preponderant, but the former exceeding in erudition and dialectic—a
condition of things quite certain to continue and on which a few essays
more or less in destructive criticism can produce little effect.

E. C. S.

Mrs. Stanton's statements concerning the undeveloped religious sentiment
of the early Hebrews cannot be criticized from the orthodox standpoint as in
this account, where the God of Abraham is represented as taking an active
personal interest in the affairs of the chosen people, they did not trust
wholly to Him, but kept images of the gods of the neighboring tribes in
their houses, Laban feeling sorry enough over their loss to go seven days'

journey to recover them while his daughter felt she could not leave her
father's house without taking the images with her as a protection.

The faults of Laban, of Jacob and of most of his sons are brought out
without any reserve by the historian who follows the custom of early
writers in stating things exactly as they were. There was no secrecy and
little delicacy in connection with sexual matters. It may, however, be
noticed that while this people had the same crude notions about these things
that were common to other nations, yet every infraction of the Divine law
of monogamy, symbolized in the account of the creation of woman in the
second chapter of Genesis, brings its own punishment whether in or out of
the marriage relation. When one or another people sinned against a Jewish
woman the men of the family were the avengers, as when the sons of Jacob
slew a whole city to avenge an outrage committed against their sister.
Polygamy and concubinage wove a thread of disaster and complications
throughout the whole lives of families and its dire effects are directly
traceable in the feuds and degeneration of their descendants. The chief
lesson taught by history is danger of violating, physically, mentally, or
spiritually the personal integrity of woman. Customs of the country and the
cupidity of Laban, forced polygamy on Jacob, and all the shadows in his
life, and he had no end of trouble in after years, are due to this. Perhaps
nothing but telling their stories in this brutally frank way would make the
lesson so plain.

If we search this narrative ever so closely it gives us no hint of Divinely
intended subordination of woman. Jacob had to buy his wives with service
which indicates that a high value was placed upon them. Now-a-days in
high life men demand instead of give. The degradation of woman involved
in being sold to a husband, to put it in the most humiliating way, is not
comparable to the degradation of having to buy a husband. Euripides made
Medea say: "We women are the most unfortunate of all creatures since we

have to buy our masters at so dear a price," and the degradation of Grecian
women is repeated—all flower-garlanded and disguised by show—in the
marriage sentiments of our own civilization. Jacob was dominated by his
wives as Abraham and Isaac had been and there is no hint of their
subjection. Rachel's refusal to move when the gods were being searched for,
showed that her will was supreme, nobody tried to force her to rise against
her own desire.

The love which Jacob bore for Rachel has been through all time the
symbol of constancy. Seven years he served for her, and so great was his
love, so pure his delight in her presence that the time seemed but as a day.
Had this simple, absorbing affection not been interfered with by Laban,
how different would have been the tranquil life of Jacob and Rachel,
developing undisturbed by the inevitable jealousies and vexations
connected with the double marriage. Still this love was the solace of Jacob's
troubled life and remained unabated until Rachel died and then found
expression in tenderness for Benjamin. "the son of my right hand." It was
no accident, but has a great significance, that this most ardent and faithful
of Jewish lovers should have deeper spiritual experiences than any of his
predecessors.

C. B. C.

CHAPTER X.

Genesis xxix, xxxi.

18 And Jacob loved Rachel; and said I will serve thee seven years for
Rachel thy younger daughter.

19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should
give her to another man; abide with me.

20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him
but a few days, for the love he had to her.

21 And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are
fulfilled.

22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a
feast.

23 And it came to pass in the evening that be took Leah his daughter, and
brought her to him.

26 And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the
younger before the firstborn.

27 We will give thee Rachel also thou shalt serve with me yet seven other
years.

28 And Jacob did so, and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.

29 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said
unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto my mine own place, and to
my country.

26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and
let me go; for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.

17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels;

18 And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had
gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padan-aram, for to
go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

19 And Laban went to shear his sheep; and Rachel had stolen the images
that were her father's

20 And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told
him not that he fled;

22 And it was told Laban on the third day, that Jacob was fled.

23 And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days'
journey; and they overtook him in the mount Gilead.

While Laban played his petty deceptions on Jacob, the latter proved
himself in fraud and overreaching fully his match. In being compelled to
labor fourteen years for Rachel instead of seven, as agreed upon, he amply
revenged himself in getting possession of all Laban's best cattle, availing
himself of a physiological law in breeding of which Laban was profoundly
ignorant.

The parting of Jacob and Laban was not amicable, although they did not
come to an open rupture. Rachel's character for theft and deception is still
further illustrated. Having stolen her father's images and hidden them under
the camel's saddles and furniture, and sat thereon, when her father came to
search for the images, which he valued highly, she said she was too ill to
rise, so she calmly kept her seat, while the tent was searched and nothing
found, thus by act as well as word, deceiving her father.

Jacob and his wives alike seemed to think Laban fair game for fraud and
deception. As Laban knew his images were gone, he was left to suspect that
Jacob knew where they were, so little regard had Rachel for the reputation
of her husband. In making a God after their own image, who approved of
whatever they did, the Jews did not differ much from ourselves; the men of
our day talk too as if they reflected the opinions of Jehovah on the vital
questions of the hour. In our late civil war both armies carried the Bible in
their knapsacks, and both alike prayed to the same God for victory, as if he
could be in favor of slavery and against it at the same time.

Like the women, too, who are working and praying for woman suffrage,
both in the state legislature and in their closets, and others against it, to the
same God and legislative assembly. One must accept the conclusion that
their acquaintance with the Lord was quite as limited as our own in this
century, and that they were governed by their own desires and judgment,
whether for good or evil, just as we are; their plans by day and their dreams

by night having no deeper significance than our own. Some writers say that
the constant interposition of God in their behalf was because they needed
his special care and attention. But the irregularity and ignorance of their
lives show clearly that their guiding hand was of human origin. If the
Jewish account is true, then the God of the Hebrews falls far short of the
Christian ideal of a good, true manhood, and the Christian ideal as set forth
in the New Testament falls short of our ideal of the Heavenly Father to-day.
We have no fault to find with the Bible as a mere history of an ignorant,
undeveloped people, but when special inspiration is claimed for the
historian, we must judge of its merits by the moral standard of to-day, and
the refinement of the writer by the questionable language in which he
clothes his descriptions.

We have often wondered that the revising committees that have gone
over these documents so often, should have adhered so closely to such gross
translations. Surely a fact related to us in coarse language, is not less a fact
when repeated in choice, words. We need an expurgated edition of most of
the books called holy before they are fit to place in the hands of the rising
generation.

Some members of the Revising Committee write me that the tone of
some of my comments should be more reverent in criticising the "Word of
God." Does any one at this stage of civilization think the Bible was written
by the finger of God, that the Old and New Testaments emanated from the
highest divine thought in the universe? Do they think that all the men who
wrote the different books were specially inspired, and that all the various
revising committees that have translated, interpolated, rejected some books
and accepted others, who have dug round the roots of the Greek and
Hebrew to find out the true meaning, have one and all been watched and
guided in their literary labors by the great spirit of the universe, who by
immutable law holds the solar system in place, every planet steadily

moving in its own elliptic, worlds upon worlds revolving in order and
harmony?

These great object-lessons in nature and the efforts of the soul to fathom
the incomprehensible, are more inspiring than any written page. To this
"Word of God" I bow with reverence, and I can find no language too
exalted to express my love, my faith, my admiration.

To criticise the peccadilloes of Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel does not
shadow the virtues of Deborah, Huldah and Vashti; to condemn the laws
and customs of the Jews as recorded in the book of Genesis, does not
destroy the force of the golden rule and the ten commandments. Parts of the
Bible are so true, so grand, so beautiful, that it is a pity it should have been
bound in the same volume with sentiments and descriptions so gross and
immoral.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER XI.

Genesis xxxv.

8 But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el
under an oak; and the name of it was called Allonbachuth.

9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram,
and blessed him.

10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: Thy name shall not be
called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name
Israel.

16 And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was but a little way to
come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor.

17 The midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou, shalt have this son also.

18 And it came to pass as her soul was in departing (for she died), that
she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is
Beth-lehem.

20 And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's
grave unto this day.

Why Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, should be interjected here does not
appear. However, if all Isaac's and Jacob's children had been intrusted to her
care through the perils of infancy, it was fitting that the younger generation
with their father should pause in their journey and drop a tear to her
memory, and cultivate a tender sentiment for the old oak tree at Bethel.

There is no manifestation of gratitude more beautiful in family life than
kindness and respect to servants for long years of faithful service, especially
for those who have watched the children night and day, tender in sickness,
and patient with all their mischief in health. In dealing with children one
needs to exercise all the cardinal virtues, more tact, diplomacy, more honor
and honesty than even an ambassador to the Court of St. James. Children
readily see whom they can trust, on whose word they can rely.

In Rachel's hour of peril the midwife whispers sweet words of
consolation. She tells her to fear not, that she will have a son, and he will be
born alive. Whether she died herself is of small importance so that the boy
lived. Scott points a moral on the death of Rachel. He thinks she was
unduly anxious to have sons, and so the Lord granted her prayers to her
own destruction. If she had accepted with pious resignation whatever weal
or woe naturally fell to her lot, she might have lived to a good old age, and
been buried by Jacob's side at last, and not left alone in Bethlehem. People
who obstinately seek what they deem their highest good, ofttimes perish in
the attainment of their ambition. (Thus Scott philosophizes.)

Jacob was evidently a man of but little sentiment. The dying wife gasps a
name for her son, but the father pays no heed to her request, and chooses
one to suit himself. Though we must admit that Benjamin is more dignified
than Ben-oni; the former more suited to a public officer, the latter to a
household pet. And now Rachel is gone, and her race with Leah for children
is ended. The latter with her maids is the victor, for she can reckon eight
sons, while Rachel with her; can muster only four. One may smile at this
ambition of the women for children, but a man's wealth was estimated at
that time by the number of his children and cattle; women who had no
children were objects of pity and dislike among the Jewish tribes. The Jews
of to-day have much of the same feeling. They believe in the home sphere
for all women, that wifehood and motherhood are the most exalted offices.
If they are really so considered, why does every Jew on each returning Holy
Day say in reading the service, "I thank thee, oh Lord! that I was not born a
woman!"? And if Gentiles are of the same opinion, why do they consider
the education of boys more important than that of girls? Surely those who
are to fill the most responsible offices should have the most thorough and
liberal education.

The home sphere has so many attractions that most women prefer it to all
others. A strong right arm on which to lean, a safe harbor where adverse
winds never blow, nor rough seas roll, makes a most inviting picture. But
alas! even good husbands sometime die, and the family drifts out on the
great ocean of life, without chart or compass, or the least knowledge of the
science of navigation. In such emergencies the woman trained to self-
protection, self-independence, and self-support holds the vantage ground
against all theories on the home sphere.

The first mention we have of an aristocratic class of Kings and Dukes, is
in the line of Cain's descendants.

Genesis xxxvi.

18 And these are the sons of Aholibamah, Esau's wife: duke Jeush, duke
Jaalam, duke Korah: these were the dukes that came of Aholibamah the
daughter of Anah Esau's wife.

The name Aholibamah has a suggestion of high descent, but the historian
tells us nothing of the virtues or idiosyncrasies of character, such a high-
sounding name suggests, but simply that she was the daughter of Anah, and
the wife of Esau, and that she was blessed with children, all interesting
facts, which might have been intensified with a knowledge of some of her
characteristics, what she thought, said and did, her theories of life in
general. One longs all through Genesis to know what the women thought of
a strictly masculine dynasty.

Some writers claim that these gross records of primitive races, have a
deep spiritual meaning, that they are symbolical of the struggles of an
individual soul from animalism to the highest, purest development of all the
Godlike in man.

Some on the Revising Committee take this view, and will give us from
time to time more exalted interpretations than the account in plain English
conveys to the ordinary mind.

In my exegesis thus far, not being versed in scriptural metaphors and
symbols, I have attempted no scientific interpretation of the simple
narration, merely commenting on the supposed facts as stated. As the Bible
is placed in the hands of children and uneducated men and women to point
them the way of salvation, the letter should have no doubtful meaning.
What should we think of guide posts on our highways, if we needed a

symbolical interpreter at every point to tell us which way to go? the
significance of the letters? and the point of compass indicated by the digital
finger? Learned men have revised the Scriptures times without number, and
I do not propose to go back of the latest Revision.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER XII.

Genesis xxxix.

1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar an officer of
Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the Ishmaelites,
which bad brought him down thither.

2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he
was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.

4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made
him overseer over his house and all that he had he put into his hand.

7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her
eyes upon Joseph; and she solicited him.

8 But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master
wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he
hath to my hand.

9 How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?

10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he
hearkened not unto her, and she caught him by his garment, and he left his
garment in her hand and fled.

13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her
hand and was fled forth,

14 That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them,
saying, See, he hath brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in
unto me, and I cried with a loud voice:

15 And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried,
that he left his garment with me, and fled.

16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home.

17 And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The
Hebrew servant which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock
me:

18 And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his
garment with me, and fled out.

19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, that
his wrath was kindled.

20 And Joseph's master took him; and put him into the prison, a place
where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.

211 But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him
favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the
prisoners that were in the prison; and whatever they did there, he was the
doer of it.

Potiphar's wife surpasses all the women yet mentioned in perfidy and
dishonor.

Joseph's virtues, his dignity, his honor, go far to redeem the reputation of
his ancestors, and the customs of his times. It would have been generous, at
least, if the editor of these pages could have given us one woman the
counterpart of Joseph, a noble, high-minded, virtuous type. Thus far those
of all the different nationalities have been of an ordinary low type.
Historians usually dwell on the virtues of the people, the heroism of their
deeds, the wisdom of their words, but the sacred fabulist dwells on the most
questionable behavior of the Jewish race, and much in character and
language that we can neither print nor answer.

Indeed the Pentateuch is a long painful record of war, corruption, rapine,
and lust. Why Christians who wished to convert the heathen to our religion
should send them these books, passes all understanding. It is most
demoralizing reading for children and the unthinking masses, giving all
alike the lowest possible idea of womanhood, having no hope nor ambition
beyond conjugal unions with men they scarcely knew, for whom they could
not have had the slighest {sic} sentiment of friendship, to say nothing of
affection. There is no mention of women except when the advent of sons is
announced. When the Children of Israel go down into Egypt we are told
that the wives of Jacob's sons were taken too, but we hear nothing of
Jacob's wives or concubines, until the death and burial of Leah is
incidentally mentioned. Throughout the book of Genesis the leading men
declare from time to that the Lord comes to them and promises great
fruitfulness. A strange promise in that it could only be fulfilled in

questionable relations. To begin with Abraham, and go through to Joseph,
leaving out all conjugal irregularities, we find Abraham and Sarah had
Isaac, Isaac and Rebekah had Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Rachel (for she
alone was his true wife), had Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph and Asenath had
Manassah and Ephraim. Thus giving the Patriarchs just seven legitimate
descendants in the first generation. If it had not been for polygamy and
concubinage, the great harvest so recklessly promised would have been
meagre indeed.

Genesis xli.

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him
to wife Asenath the daughter of Potar-pherah priest of On. And Joseph went
out over all the land of Egypt.

46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of
Egypt.

50 And unto Joseph were born two sons, before the years of the famine
came: which Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto
him.

51 And Joseph called the name of the first-born Manassah: For God, said
he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.

52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused
me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

This is all we ever hear of Asenath, that she was a good woman, probably
worthy of Joseph, it is fair to infer, for had she been otherwise her evil
deeds would have been recorded. A few passing remarks where ever we
find the mention of woman is about all we can vouchsafe. The writer
probably took the same view of the virtuous woman as the great Roman
General who said "the highest praise for Caesar's wife is that she should
never be mentioned at all."

The texts on Lot's daughters and Tamar we omit altogether, as unworthy
a place in the "Woman's Bible." In the remaining chapters of Genesis, the
brethren of Joseph take leave of each other; the fathers bless their sons and
grandsons, and also take leave of each other, some to go to remote parts of
the country, some to die at a ripe old age. As nothing is said of their wives
and daughters, the historian probably knew nothing of their occupations nor
environments. Joseph was a hundred and ten years old when he died. They
embalmed him according to the custom in Egypt, and put him in a coffin,
and buried him in the land of his fathers, where his brethren had promised
to take his bones after death to rest with his kindred at last.

E. C. S.

The literal translation of the first verse of chapter xxxix of Genesis is as
follows:

"And Joseph was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, Pharaoh's
eunuch, chief of the cooks, an Egyptian bought him of the Ishmaelites who
brought him down."

These facts which are given in Julia Smith's translation of the Bible
throw a new light on the story of Joseph and the woman who was Potiphar's

wife only in name.

L. D. B.

THE BOOK OF EXODUS.
CHAPTER 1.

Exodus i.

1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into
Egypt: every man and his household came with Jacob.

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

4 Dan, and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls:
for Joseph was in Egypt already.

15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the
name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah.

16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew
women, and they bare a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it be a daughter,
then she shall live.

17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt
commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them,
Why have ye done this thing and have saved the men children alive?

19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are
delivered ere the midwives come in unto them:

20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people
multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made
them houses.

22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye
shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

The Book of Exodus or the Departure, so called because of the escape of
the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, and their wanderings in the
wilderness for forty years, are herein recalled.

The unparalleled multiplication of the children of Israel renewed
Pharaoh's anxiety especially as the Israelites were very large and strong as
compared with the Egyptians, and their numbers were computed to double
every fourteen years. Hence their multitude and power grew more
formidable day by day in the eyes of the Egyptians, though they feared their
presence, yet as their labors added greatly to the wealth of the nation, they

were unwilling to let them go. Pharaoh hoped by making their daily tasks
much harder and killing all the male children at birth, they, would be so
crippled and dispirited that there would be no danger of rebellion against
his government.

For a list of the seventy souls, turn to Genesis, chapter xlvi, where Dinah,
Jacob's daughter, and Sarah, Asher's daughter, are mentioned among the
seventy souls. It is certainly curious that there should have been only two
daughters to sixty-eight sons. But perhaps the seventy souls refer only to
sons, and the daughters are merely persons, not souls. It is not an
uncommon idea with many nations that women have no souls. A missionary
to China tells of a native who asked him why he preached the Gospel to
women. "To save their souls, to be sure." "Why," said he, "women have no
souls." "Yes they have," said the missionary. When the thought dawned on
the Chinaman that it might be true, he was greatly amused, and said, "Well,
I'll run home and tell my wife she has a soul, and we will sit down and
laugh together." We find at many points that the Bible does not reckon
women as souls. It may be that because there is no future for them is the
reason why they punish them here more severely than they do men for the
same crimes. Here it is plainly asserted that all the souls that came out of
the loins of Jacob were seventy in number. The meaning conveyed may be
that the man supplies the spirit and intellect of the race, and woman the
body only. Some late writers take this ground. If so, the phraseology would
have been more in harmony with the idea, if the seventy souls had
emanated, Minerva-like, from the brain of father Jacob, rather than from his
loins.

The children of Israel multiplied so rapidly that Pharaoh became alarmed,
lest the nation should become mightier than the Egyptians, so he ordered all
the males at birth to be slain. To this end he had a private interview with the
midwives, two women, Shiphrah and Puah, and laid his commands upon

them. But they did not obey his orders, and excused themselves on the
ground that the Jewish women seldom needed their services. Here we have
another example of women who "feared God," and yet used deception to
accomplish what they deemed right.

The Hebrew God seemed to be well pleased with the deception, and gave
them each a house for their fidelity in saving the lives of his chosen
children. Such is the plain English of the story. Origen ascribes a deep
spiritual meaning to these passages, as more recent writers and speakers do,
making the whole Bible a collection of symbols and allegories, but none of
them are complimentary to our unfortunate sex. Adam Clarke says if we
begin by taking some parts of the Scriptures figuratively we shall soon
figure it all away. Though the midwives in their comfortable homes enjoyed
the approbation of God, Pharaoh was not to be thwarted by their petty
excuses, so he ordered his own people to cast into the river every Jewish
boy that was born. We are so accustomed to the assumption that men alone
form a nation, that we forget to resent such texts as these. Surely daughters
in freedom could perpetuate family and national pride and honor, and if
allowed to wed the men of their choice, their children would vindicate their
ancestral dignity. The greatest block to advancing civilization all along the
line has been the degradation of woman. Having no independent existence,
no name, holding no place of honor or trust, being mere subjects in the
family, the birth of a son is naturally considered more important than a
daughter, as the one inherits because of sex all the rights and privileges
denied the other.

Shiphrah and Puah, Aben Ezra tells us, were probably at the head of their
profession, and instructed others in the science of obstetrics. At this time
there were five hundred midwives among the Hebrews. This branch of the
profession was, among the Egyptians, also in the hands of the women.

Statistics show that the ratio of deaths among mothers and children at birth
was far less than when under male supervision exclusively.

Moses spent the first forty years of his life in Egypt, the next forty with
Jethro his father in law, and the next forty wandering in the wilderness. One
writer said the Lord must have buried Moses, and no one ever knew where.
There is no record of the burial place of Moses. As his life had been
surrounded with mysteries, perhaps to verify his providential guidance in
that long journey in the wilderness, he chose to surround his death also with
mystery, and arranged with members of the priesthood to keep his last
resting place a profound secret. He was well versed in all the law and
mythology of the Egyptians, and intended the people should no doubt think
that Jehovah had taken the great leader to himself. For the purpose of
controlling his followers in that long journey through the wilderness, he
referred all his commands and actions to Jehovah. Moses declared that he
met him face to face on Mount Sinai, veiled in a cloud of fire, received
minute instructions how to feed and conduct the people, as well as to
minister to their moral and spiritual necessities. In order to enforce his
teachings, he said the ten commandments were written on tablets of stone
by Jehovah himself, and given into his hands to convey to the people, with
many ordinances and religious observances, to be sacredly kept. In this way
the Jewish religion and the Mosaic code were established.

As these people had no written language at that time, and could neither
read nor write, they were fitting subjects for all manner of delusions and
superstitions. The question naturally suggests itself to any rational mind,
why should the customs and opinions of this ignorant people, who lived
centuries ago, have any influence in the religious thought of this
generation?

E. C. S.

CHAPTER II.

Exodus ii.

1 And there went a man of the house of Levi and took to wife a daughter
of Levi.

2 And the woman bare a son: and when she saw that he was a goodly
child, she hid him three months.

3 And when she could not longer hide him she took for him an ark of
bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child
therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river;
and her maidens walked along by the river's side: and when she saw the ark
among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe
wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the

Hebrews' children.

7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a
nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called
the child's mother.

9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it
for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and
nursed it.

10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and
he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I
drew him out of the water.

15 But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of
Midian: and he sat down by a well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and
drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up
and helped them, and watered their flock.

18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye
are come so soon to day?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the
shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye
have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses
Zipporah his daughter.

22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershon: for he said, I
have been a stranger in a strange land.

The account of the birth of Moses, his mother's anxiety in protecting him
from the wrath of Pharaoh, and the goodness of the king's daughter, make
altogether an interesting story, and is almost the first touch of sentiment
with which the historian has refreshed us; a pleasant change from the
continued accounts of corruption, violence, lust, war and petty falsehood,
that have thus far marked the history of this people. The only value of these
records to us is to show the character of the Jewish nation, and make it easy
for us to reject their ideas as to the true status of woman, and their
pretension of being guided by the hand of God, in all their devious
wanderings. Surely such teachings as these, should have no influence in
regulating the lives of women in the nineteenth century. Moses' conduct
towards the seven daughters of the priest at the well, shows that there were
some sparks of chivalry here and there in a few representative souls,
notwithstanding the contempt for the sex in general. These Hebrew wooings
and weddings were curiously similar, alike marked for the beauty and
simplicity of the daughters of the land, the wells, the flocks, the handsome
strangers, the strong, active young men who will prove so helpful in
cultivating the lands. The father-in-law usually gets the young husband
completely under his thumb, and we hear nothing of the dreaded mother-in-
law of the nineteenth century. If we go through this chapter carefully we
will find mention of about a dozen women, but with the exception of one
given to Moses, all are nameless. Then as now names for women and slaves
are of no importance; they have no individual life, and why should their
personality require a life-long name? To-day the woman is Mrs. Richard

Roe, to-morrow Mrs. John Doe, and again Mrs. James Smith according as
she changes masters, and she has so little self-respect that she does not see
the insult of the custom. We have had in this generation one married woman
in England, and one in America, who had one name from birth to death, and
though married they kept it. Think of the inconvenience of vanishing as it
were from your friends and, correspondents three times in one's natural life.

In helping the children of Israel to escape from the land of Egypt the
Lord said to Moses:

Exodus iii.

19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a
mighty hand.

20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders
which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it
shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:

22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighhour, and of her that
sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:
and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye
shall spoil the Egyptians.

The role assigned the women, in helping the children of Israel to escape
in safety from bondage, is by no means complimentary to their heroism or
honesty. To help bear the expenses of the journey, they were instructed to

steal all the jewels of silver and gold, and all the rich raiment of the
Egyptian ladies. The Lord and Moses no doubt went on the principle that
the Israelites had richly earned all in the years of their bondage. This is the
position that some of our good abolitionists took, when Africans were
escaping from American bondage, that the slaves had the right to seize
horses, boats, anything to help them to Canada, to find safety in the shadow
of the British lion. Some of our pro-slavery clergymen, who no doubt often
read the third chapter of Exodus to their congregations, forgot the advice of
Moses, in condemning the abolitionists; as the Americans had stolen the
African's body and soul, and kept them in hopeless bondage for generations
—they had richly earned whatever they needed to help them to the land of
freedom. Stretch the principle of natural rights a little further, and ask the
question, why should women, denied all their political rights, obey laws to
which they have never given their consent, either by proxy or in person?
Our fathers in an inspired moment said, "No just government can be formed
without the consent of the governed."

Women have had no voice in the canon law, the catechisms, the church
creeds and discipline, and why should they obey the behests of a strictly
masculine religion, that places the sex at a disadvantage in all life's
emergencies?

Our civil and criminal codes reflect at many points the spirit of the
Mosaic. In the criminal code we find no feminine pronouns, as "He," "His,"
"Him," we are arrested, tried and hung, but singularly enough, we are
denied the highest privileges of citizens, because the pronouns "She,"
"Hers" and "Her," are not found in the constitutions. It is a pertinent
question, if women can pay the penalties of their crimes as "He," why may
they not enjoy the privileges of citizens as "He"?

E. C. S.

CHAPTER III.

Exodus iv.

18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father in law, and said unto
him, let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt,
and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.

19 And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all
the men are dead which sought thy life.

20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and
he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his
hand.

21 And the Lord said unto Moses, when thou goest to return into Egypt,
see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine
hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my
son, even my firstborn:

23 And I say unto thee, let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou
refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn:

24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and
sought to kill him.

25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and circumcised her son.

26 So he let him go.

When Moses married Zipporah he represented himself as a stranger who
desired nothing better than to adopt Jethro's mode of life, But now that he
desired to see his own people, his wife has no choice but to accompany
him. So Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on an ass, and he
returned to the land of Egypt.

The reason the Lord met them and sought to kill the son, was readily
devined by Zipporah; her son had not been circumcised; so with woman's
quick intuition and natural courage to save the life of her husband, she
skillfully performed the necessary operation, and the travellers went on
their way rejoicing. The word circumcision seems to have a very elastic
meaning "uncircumcised lips" is used to describe that want of power to
speak fluently, from which Moses suffered and which he so often deplored.

As in every chapter of Jewish history this rite is dwelt upon it is worthy
of remark that its prominence as a religious observance means a
disparagement of all female life, unfit for offerings, and unfit to, take part in
religious services, incapable of consecration. The circumcision of the heart
even, which women might achieve, does not render them fit to take an
active part in any of the holy services of the Lord. They were permitted to
violate the moral code of laws to secure liberty for their people, but they

could not officiate in any of the sacraments, nor eat of the consecrated bread
at meals. Although the Mosaic code and customs so plainly degrade the
female sex, and their position in the church to-day grows out of these
ancient customs, yet many people insist that our religion dignifies women.
But so long as the Pentateuch is read and accepted as the Word of God, an
undefined influence is felt by each generation that, destroys a proper respect
for all womankind.

It is the contempt that the canon and civil law alike express for women
that has multiplied their hardships and intensified man's, desire to hold them
in subjection. The sentiment that statesmen and bishops proclaim in their
high places are responsible for the actions of the lower classes on the
highways. We scarce take up a paper that does not herald some outrage
committed on a matron on her way to church, or the little girl gathering
wild flowers on her way to school; yet you cannot go so low down in the
scale of being as to find men who will enter our churches to desecrate the
altars or toss about the emblems of the sacrament; because they have been
educated with some respect for churches, altars and sacraments. But where
are any lessons of respect taught for the mothers of the human family? And
yet as the great factor in the building of the race are they not more sacred
than churches, altars, sacraments or the priesthood?

Do our sons in their law schools, who read the old common law of
England and its commentators, rise from their studies with higher respect
for women? Do our sons in their theological seminaries rise from their
studies of the Mosaic laws and Paul's epistles with higher respect for their
mothers? Alas! in both cases they may have learned their first lessons of
disrespect and contempt. They who would protect their innocent daughters
from the outrages so common to-day, must lay anew the foundation stones
of law and gospel in justice and equality, in a profound respect of the sexes
for each other.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER IV.

Exodus xii.

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all
the firstborn in tile land of Egypt, both man and beast: and against all the
gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.

18 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye
are: and when I see that blood, I will pass over you, and the plague not be
upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

43 And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the
passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:

44 But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast
circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.

45 A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof.

46 In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the
flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.

47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the
passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him
come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no
uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.

In commemoration of this promise of the Lord's to pass over their homes
in executing vengeance on the Egyptians, and of the prolonged battles
between Jehovah and Moses on the one side, and Pharaoh and his Cabinet
on the other, the Jews held an annual feast to which all circumcised males
were summoned. The point of interest to us is whether women were
disqualified, not being circumcised, or whether as members of the
congregation they could slip in under the provision in the 47th verse, and
enjoy the unleavened bread and nice roast lamb with the men of their
household. It seems from the above texts that this blessed feast of
deliverance from bondage must have been confined to males, that they only,
could express, their joy and gratitude. But women were permitted to
perform a subordinate part in the grand hegira, beside carrying their
respective infants they manifested their patriotism by stealing all the jewels
of gold and silver, all the rich silks and velvets from their Egyptian
neighbors, all they could carry, according to the commands of Moses. And
why should these women take any part in the passover; their condition
remained about the same under all dynasties in all lands. They were
regarded merely as necessary factors in race building. As Jewish wives or
Egyptian concubines, there was no essential difference in their social status.

As Satan, represented by a male snake, seemed to be women's counsellor
from the beginning, making her skillful in cunning and tergiversation, it is
fair to suppose that they were destined to commune with the spirit of evil
for ever and ever, that is if women have souls and are immortal, which is

thought to be doubtful by many nations. There is no trace thus far that the
Jews believed in a future state, good or bad. No promise of immortality is
held out to men even. So far the promise to them is a purely material
triumph, "their seed shall not fill the earth."

The firstborn of males both man and beast are claimed by the Lord as his
own. From the general sentiment expressed in the various texts, it is evident
that Satan claims the women as his own. The Hebrew God had very little to
say in regard to them. If the passover, the lamb and the unleavened bread,
were necessary to make the males acceptable in religious services, the
females could find no favor in the eyes of either God or man.

In most of the sacrifices female animals are not accepted, nor a male,
born after a female by the same parent. Males are the race, females only the
creatures that carry it on. This arrangement must be providential, as it saves
men from many disabilities. Men never fail to dwell on maternity as a
disqualification for the possession of many civil and political rights.
Suggest the idea of women having a voice in making laws and
administering the Government in the halls of legislation, in Congress, or the
British Parliament, and men will declaim at once on the disabilities of
maternity in a sneering contemptuous way, as if the office of motherhood
was undignified and did not comport with the highest public offices in
church and state. It is vain that we point them to Queen Victoria, who has
carefully reared a large family, while considering and signing all state
papers. She has been a pattern wife and mother, kept a clean court, and used
her influence as far as her position would admit, to keep peace with all
nations. Why should representative American women be incapable of
discharging similar public and private duties at the same time in an equally
commendable manner?

E. C. S.

CHAPTER V.

Exodus xviii.

1 When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father in law, heard of all
that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that the Lord
had brought Israel out of Egypt;

2 Then Jethro, Moses' father in law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he
had sent her back.

3 And her two sons; of which the name of one was Gershom; for he said,
I have been an alien in a strange land:

4 And the name of the other was Eliezer: for the God of my father, said
he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh;

5 And Jethro, Moses father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto
Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:

6 And he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come unto thee,
and thy wife, and her two sons with her.

7 And Moses went out to meet his father in law, and did obeisance, and
kissed him, and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into
the tent.

8 And Moses told his father in law all that the Lord had done unto the
Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had
come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them.

After a long separation the record of the meeting between Moses and his
wife Zipporah I,; very unsatisfactory to the casual reader. There is some
sentiment in the meeting of Jethro and Moses, they embraced and kissed
each other. How tender and beautiful the seeming relation to a father in law,
more fortunate than the mother in law in our time. Zipporah like all the
women of her time was hustled about, sent forward and back by husbands
and fathers, generally transported with their sons and belongings on some
long-suffering jackass. Nothing is said of the daughters, but the sons, their
names and their significance seem of vital importance. We must smile or
heave a sigh at all this injustice, but different phases of the same guiding
principle blocks woman's way to-day to perfect liberty. See the struggle
they have made to gain admittance to the schools and colleges, the trades
and professions, their civil and political rights. The darkest page in history
is the persecutions of woman.

We take note of these discriminations of sex, and reiterate them again and
again to call the attention of women to the real source of their multiplied
disabilities. As long as our religion teaches woman's subjection and man's
right of domination, we shall have chaos in the world of morals. Women are
never referred to as persons, merely as property, and to see why, you must
read the Bible until you also see how many other opportunities for the
exercise of sex were given to men, and why the single one of marriage to
one husband was allowed to women.

In all the directions given Moses, for the regulation of the social and civil
life of the children of Israel, and in the commandments on Mount Sinai, it is
rarely that females are mentioned. The regulations are chiefly for males, the
offerings are male, the transgressions referred to are male.

When the Lord was about to give the ten commandments to the children
of Israel he gave the most minute directions as to the preparatory duties of
the people. It is evident from the text that males only were to witness
Moses' ascent to Mount Sinai and the coming of the Lord in a cloud of fire.

Exodus xix.

12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take
heed to yourselves, that ye go not up in to the mount, or touch the border of
it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death..

13 There shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot
through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet
soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified
the people; and they washed their clothes.

16 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not
at your wives.

The children of Israel were to sanctify themselves for this great event.
Besides a thorough cleaning of their persons and clothes, they were to have
no affiliations or conversations with women for the space of three days. The

Hebrew laws regulating the relations of men and women are never
complimentary to the latter.

This feeling was in due time cultivated in the persecutions women
endured under witchcraft and celibacy, when all women were supposed to
be in collusion with the spirit of evil, and every man was warned that the
less he had to do with the "daughters of men" the more perfect might be his
communion with the Creator. Lecky in his History of Rationalism shows
what women endured when these ideas were prevalent, and their sufferings
were not mitigated until rationalism took the place of religion, and reason
trumphed {sic} over superstition.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER VI.

Exodus xv.

20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her
hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

21 And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath
triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

After many previous disappointments from Pharaoh, the children of
Israel were permitted to start from Egypt and cross the Red Sea, while
Pharaoh and his host in pursuit, were overwhelmed in the waters.

Then Moses and the children of Israel expressed their gratitude to the
Lord in a song, comprising nineteen verses, while Miriam and the women
expressed theirs in the above two. Has this proportion any significance as to
the comparative happiness of the men and the women, or is it a poor
attempt by the male historian to make out that though the women took part
in the general rejoicing, they were mutinous or sulky. We know that Miriam

was not altogether satisfied with the management of Moses at many points
of the expedition, and later on expressed her dissatisfaction. If their
gratitude is to be measured by the length of their expression, the women
were only one-tenth as grateful as the men. It must always be a wonder to
us, that in view of their degradation, they ever felt like singing or dancing,
for what desirable change was there in their lives—the same hard work or
bondage they suffered in Egypt. There, they were all slaves together, but
now the men, in their respective families were exalted above their heads.
Clarke gives the song in metre with a chorus, and says the women, led by
Miriam, answered in a chorus by themselves which greatly heightened the
effect.

Exodus xvi.

23 And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To
morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye
will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth
over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

29 See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth
you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place,
let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

In these texts we note that the work of men was done on the sixth day,
but the women must work as usual on the seventh. We see the same thing
to-day, woman's work is never done. What irony to say to them rest on the

seventh day. The Puritan fathers would not let the children romp or play,
nor give their wives a drive on Sunday, but they enjoyed a better dinner on
the Sabbath than any other day; yet the xxxi chapter and 15th verse contains
the following warning:

15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest,
holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall
surely be put to death.

As the women continued to work and yet seemed to live in the flesh, it
may refer to the death of their civil rights, their individuality, as nonentities
without souls or personal responsibility.

A critical reading of the ten commandments will show that they are
chiefly for men. After purifying themselves by put ting aside their wives
and soiled clothes, they assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai. We have no
hint of the presence of a woman. One commandment speaks of visiting the
iniquities of the fathers upon the children. There is an element of justice in
this, for to talk of children getting iniquities from their mothers, in a history
of males, of fathers and sons, would be as ridiculous as getting them from
the clothes they wore.

"Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work." With the majority of
women this is impossible. Men of all classes can make the Sabbath a day of
rest, at least a change of employment, but for women the same monotonous
duties must be performed. In the homes of the rich and poor alike, most
women cook, clean, and take care of children from morning till night. Men
must have good dinners Sundays above all other days, as then they have
plenty of time in which to eat. If the first born male child lifts up his voice
at the midnight hour, the female attendant takes heed to his discontent; if in

the early morning at the cock crowing, or the eventide, she is there. They
who watch and guard the infancy of men are like faithful sentinels, always
on duty.

The fifth commandment will take the reader by surprise. It is rather
remarkable that the young Hebrews should have been told to honor their
mothers, when the whole drift of the teaching thus far has been to throw
contempt on the whole sex. In what way could they show their mothers
honor? All the laws and customs forbid it. Why should they make any such
manifestations? Scientists claim that the father gives the life, the spirit, the
soul, all there is of most value in existence. Why honor the mother, for
giving the mere covering of flesh. It was not her idea, but the father's, to
start their existence. He thought of them, he conceived them. You might as
well pay the price of a sack of wheat to the field, instead of the farmer who
sowed it, as to honor the mother for giving life. According to the Jewish
code, the father is the great factor in family life, the mother of minor
consideration. In the midst of such teachings and examples of the subjection
and degradation of all womankind, a mere command to honor the mother
has no significance.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER VII.

Exodus xxxii.

1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the
mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto
him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the
man that brought us up out of land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of
him.

2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in
the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them
unto me.

And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears,
and brought them unto Aaron.

And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool,
after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O
Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made
proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the Lord.

6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and
brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and
rose up to play.

7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people,
which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.

So tired were the children of Israel waiting at the foot of Mount Sinai for
the return of Moses, that Aaron to pacify them made a golden calf which
they worshipped. To procure the gold he took the jewelry of the women
young and old, men never understanding how precious it is to them, and the
great self-sacrifice required to part with it. But as the men generally give it
to them during courtship, and as wedding presents, they feel that they have
a vested right therein for emergencies.

It was just so in the American Revolution, in 1776, the first delicacy the
men threw overboard in Boston harbor was the tea, woman's favorite
beverage. The tobacco and whiskey, though heavily taxed, they clung to
with the tenacity of the devil-fish. Rather than throw their luxuries
overboard they would no doubt have succumbed to King George's
pretensions. Men think that self-sacrifice is the most charming of all the
cardinal virtues for women, and in order to keep it in healthy working order,
they make opportunities for its illustration as often as possible. I would fain
teach women that self-development is a higher duty than self-sacrifice.

The pillar of cloud for day and light for night, that went before the
children of Israel in the wilderness, was indeed a marvel. It was an aqueous
cloud that kept them well watered by day, and shadowed from the heat of

the sun; by night it showed its light side to the Israelites, and its dark side to
whatever enemy might pursue them. It is supposed that about 3,200,000
started on this march with 165,000 children. They carried all their
provisions, cooking utensils, flocks, herds and all the gold, silver, precious
stones and rich raiment that they borrowed (stole) of the Egyptians, besides
the bones of the twelve sons of Jacob. It is said the Israelites spent forty
years wandering in the wilderness, kept there because of their wickedness,
though they might have accomplished the journey in a few weeks. They
disobeyed the commandments given them by Moses, and worshipped a
golden calf, so they journeyed through deep waters, woe and tribulation.
Fire was always a significant emblem of Deity, not only among the
Hebrews but many other ancient nations, hence men have adopted it as a
male emblem. They talk of Moses seeing God; but Moses says: "ye saw no
manner of similitude on the day the Lord spoke unto me on Mount Horeb
out of the cloud of fire."

E. C. S.

CHAPTER VIII.

Exodus xxxiv.

12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of
the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee;

13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down
their groves:

14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, who is a jealous
God.

15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they
go after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and
thou eat of his sacrifice;

16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go
after their gods, and make thy sons go after their gods.

23 Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord
God, the God of Israel.

24 For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders;
neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear
before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.

25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither
shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.

26 The first of the first fruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house
of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

The Jews did not seem to have an abiding faith in the attractions of their
own religion. They evidently lived in constant fear lest their sons and
daughters should worship the strange gods of other nations. They seem also
to have had most exaggerated fears as to the influence alien women might
exert over their sons. Three times in the year all the men were to appear
before the Lord. Why the women were not commanded to appear has been a
point of much questioning. Probably the women, then as now, were more
conscientious in their religious duties, and not so susceptible to the
attractions of alien men and their strange gods.

If the Lord had talked more freely with the Jewish women and impressed
some of his wise commands on their hearts, they would have had a more
refined and religious influence on the men of Israel. But all their knowledge
of the divine commands was second hand and through an acknowledged
corrupt medium.

"Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk." After all the learning
critics have bestowed on this passage, the simple meaning, says Adam
Clarke, seems to be this: Thou shalt do nothing that may have a tendency to
blunt thy moral feelings, or teach thee hardness of heart. Even human
nature shudders at the thought of taking the mother's milk to seethe the flesh

of her own dead lamb. With all their cruelty towards alien tribes and all
their sacrifices of lambs and kids, there is an occasional touch of tenderness
for animal life among the Hebrews that is quite praiseworthy.

Exodus xxxvi.

22 And they came, both men and women, as many, as were willing
hearted, and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all
jewels of gold; and every man offered an offering of gold unto the Lord.

23 And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet,
and fine linen, and goats hair, and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins,
brought them.

25 And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands,
and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of
scarlet, and of fine linen.

26 And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats'
hair.

Women were always considered sufficiently clean to beg, work and give
generously for the building and decoration of churches, and the support of
the priesthood. They might always serve as inferiors, but never receive as
equals.

Great preparations were made for building the Tabernacle, and all the
willing hearted were invited to bring all their ornaments and all manner of
rich embroideries, and brilliant fancy work of scarlet, blue and purple. As

usual in our own day the Jewish women were allowed to give generously,
work untiringly and beg eloquently to build altars and Tabernacles to the
Lord, to embroider slippers and make flowing robes for the priesthood, but
they could not enter the holy of holies or take any active part, in the
services.

Some women in our times think these unhappy Jewesses would have
been much "wiser hearted" if they had kept their jewelry and beautiful
embroideries to decorate themselves and their homes, where they were at
least satellites of the dinner pot and the cradle, and Godesses {sic} at their
own altars. Seeing they had no right inside the sacred Temple, but stood
looking-glass in hand at the door, it would have indicated more self-respect
to have washed their hands of all that pertained to male ceremonies, altars
and temples. But the women were wild with enthusiasm, just as they are to-
day with fairs and donation parties, to build churches, and they brought
such loads of bric-a-brac that at last Moses compelled them to stop, as the
supply exceeded all reasonable demand. But for the building of the
Tabernacle the women brought all they deemed most precious, even the
most necessary and convenient articles of their toilets.

Exodus xxxviii.

8 And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the
looking glasses of the women assembling at the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation.

The men readily accepted the sacrifice of all their jewelry, rich laces,
velvets and silks, their looking glasses of solid precious metal. These being

made of metal could be used for building purposes. The women carried
these with them wherever they went, and always stood with them in hand at
the door of the Tabernacle, as they were the doorkeepers standing outside to
watch and guard the door from those not permitted to enter.

An objective view of the manner these women were imposed upon,
wheedled and deceived with male pretensions and the pat use of the phrase
"thus saith the Lord," must make every one who reads indignant at the
masculine assumption, even at this late day.

E. C. S.

At every stage of his existence Moses was indebted to some woman for
safety and success. Miriam, by her sagacity, saved his life. Pharaoh's
daughter reared and educated him and made the way possible for the high
offices he was called to fill; and Zipporah, his wife, a woman of strong
character and decided opinions, often gave him good advice. Evidently
from the text she criticised his conduct and management as a leader, and
doubted his supernatural mission, for she refused to go out of Egypt with
him, preferring to remain with her sons under her father's roof—Jethro, a
priest of Midian. After the destruction of Pharaoh's host, when the
expedition, led by Moses seemed to be an assured success, she followed
with her father to join the leader of the wandering Israelites. (Chapter xviii,
2.)

In the ordinances which follow the ten commandments, exact judgment
and cruel punishment are ordained alike for man and woman; life for life,
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand and foot for foot (Chapter xxi,
23).

In pronouncing punishments, woman's individuality and responsibility
are always fully recognized, alike in the canon and civil laws, which reflect
the spirit of the Mosaic code.

Exodus xxii.

21 Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were
strangers in the land of Egypt.

22 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.

23 If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will
surely hear their cry;

24 And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and
your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless:

This special threat against those who oppress the widow and the
fatherless, has a touch of tenderness and mercy, but if the vengeance is to
make more widows and fatherless, the sum of human misery is increased
rather than diminished. As to the stranger, after his country has been made
desolate, his cities burned, his property, cattle, lands and merchandise all
confiscated, kind words and alms would be but a small measure of justice
under any circumstances.

In closing the book of Exodus, the reader must wonder that the faith and
patience of the people, in that long sorrowful march through the wilderness,
held out as long as it did. Whether fact or fiction, it is one of the most
melancholy records in human history. Whether as a mere work of the

imagination, or the real experience of an afflicted people, our finer
sentiments of pity and sympathy find relief only in doubts of its truth.

L. D. B.

THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS.
CHAPTER I.

Leviticus iv, vi.

22 When a ruler hath sinned and somewhat through ignorance, against
any of the commandments of the Lord his God concerning things which
should not be done, and is guilty.

23 Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall
bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:

27 And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he
doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning
things which ought not to be done, and be guilty:

28 Then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without
blemish, for his sin.

24 And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer
it before the Lord, before the altar.

15 And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering,
and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat
offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even the
memorial of it, unto the Lord.

18 All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a
statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of the Lord
made by fire: every one that toucheth them shall be holy.

There seems to have been some distinction of sex even in the offerings of
male and female animals. For rulers, priests and people of distinction male
animals were required, but for the common people a female lamb or goat
would do. There is a difference of opinion among writers as to the reason of
this custom, some say because all female animals were considered unclean,
others that the females were too valuable for wholesale slaughter. Farmers
use the male fowls for the table because the hens are too valuable producing
eggs and chickens. The fact has some significance, though Adam Clarke
throws no light on it, he says—"the whole sacrificial system in this book
refers to the coming sacrifice of Christ; without this spiritual reference, the
general reader can feel no spiritual interest in this book" For burnt offerings
males were required, but for peace offerings and minor sins the female
would answer.

As the idea of sacrifice to unknown gods, was the custom with all nations
and religions, why should the Jewish have more significance than that of
any other people. For swearing, an offence to ears polite, rather than eternal
justice, a female creature or turtle dove might be offered.

The meat so delicately cooked by the priests, with wood and coals in the
altar, in clean linen, no woman was permitted to taste, only the males
among the children of Aaron. Seeing that the holy men were the cooks, it
seems like a work of supererogation to direct them to clean themselves and
their cooking utensils. Perhaps the daughters of Israel were utilized for that
work.

It is clearly shown that child-bearing among the Jews was not considered
a sacred office and that offerings to the Lord were necessary for their
purification, and that double the time was necessary after the birth of a
daughter.

In several of the following chapters the sins of men and women are
treated on equal grounds, hence they need no special comments. In reading
many of these chapters we wonder that an expurgated edition of these books
was not issued long ago. We trust the volume we propose to issue may
suggest to the next Revising Committee of gentlemen the propriety of
omitting many texts that are gross and obscene, especially if the Bible is to
be read in our public schools.

Leviticus x.

12 And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his
sons that were left, Take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of
the Lord made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar: for it is
most holy.

13 And ye shall eat it in the holy place, because it is thy due, and thy
sons' due, of the sacrifices of the Lord made by fire: for so I am

commanded.

14 And the wave breast and heave shoulder shall ye eat in a clean place;
thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee: for they be thy due, and thy
sons' due, which are given out of the sacrifices of peace offerings of the
children of Israel.

Why the daughters cannot eat with the sons in the thirteenth verse and
may in the fourteenth we cannot conjecture. We notice, however, that where
the sons eat alone is called a "holy place," where the daughters eat with
them it is called simply a "clean place." We are thankful, however, that in
the distribution of meats the women come in occasionally for a substantial
meal in a clean place.

All the directions given in the eighteenth chapter are for men and women
alike, for all nations and all periods of human development. The social
habits and sanitary conditions prescribed are equally good for our times as
when given by Moses to the children of Israel. The virtue of cleanliness so
sedulously taught cannot be too highly commended.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER II.

Leviticus xix.

3 If ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my
sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

20 If And whosoever cohabits with a bondmaid, betrothed to a husband,
and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged: they
shall not be put to death, because she was not free.

21 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord, unto the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.

22 And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the
trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he hath done: and the sin
which he hath done shall be forgiven him.

By what possible chance the mother is mentioned first here, it is difficult
to conjecture, but we do see the cruel injustice of the comparative severity

of the punishment for man and woman for the same offence. The woman is
scourged, the man presents the priest with a ram and is forgiven.

Leviticus xx.

9 If For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put
to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon
him.

21 And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he
hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.

27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard,
shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones; their blood
shall be upon them.

Clarke remarks that all language that tends to lessen respect for father or
mother, is included in this judgment. In this chapter we have still further
directions for race and family purity. I suppose in the 21st verse we have
that stumbling-block in the British Parliament whenever the deceased wife's
sister's bill comes up for passage. Here, too, those who in times past have
persecuted witches, will find justification for their cruelties. The actors in
one of the blackest pages in human history, claim Scripture authority for
their infernal deeds. Far into the eighteenth century in England, the clergy
dragged innocent women into the courts as witches, and learned judges
pronounced on them the sentence of torture and death. The chapter on
witchcraft in Lecky's History of Rationalism, contains the most
heartrending facts in human history. It is unsafe to put unquestioned

confidence in all the vagaries of mortal man. While women were tortured,
drowned and burned by the thousands, scarce one wizard to a hundred was
ever condemned. The marked distinction in the treatment of the sexes, all
through the Jewish dispensation, is curious and depressing, especially as we
see the trail of the serpent all through history, wherever their form of
religion has made its impress. In the old common law of our Saxon fathers,
the Jewish code is essentially reproduced. This same distinction of sex
appears in our own day. One code of morals for men, another for women.
All the opportunities and advantages of life for education, self-support and
self-development freely accorded boys, have, in a small measure, been
reluctantly conceded to women after long and persevering struggles.

Leviticus xxii.

12 If the priest's daughter also be married unto a stranger, she may not eat
of an offering of the holy things.

13 But if the priest's daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no child,
and is returned unto her father's house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her
father's meat: but there shall no stranger eat thereof.

These restrictions on the priests' daughters would never be tolerated by
the priests' sons should they marry strangers. The individuality of a woman,
the little she ever possessed, is obliterated by marriage.

Leviticus xxiv.

10 And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian,
went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman
and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;

11 And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the LORD,
and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was
Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)

The interesting fact here is that a woman is dignified by a name, the only
one so mentioned in the book of Leviticus. This is probably due to the fact
that the son's character was so disreputable that he would reflect no lustre
on his father's family, and so on his maternal ancestors rested his disgrace.
If there had been anything good to tell of him, reference would no doubt
have been made to his male progenitors.

Leviticus xxvi.

26 And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake
your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by
weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters
shall ye eat.

There could be no greater punishment in ordinary life than for ten women
to bake in one oven. As every woman would necessarily look at her pies
and cakes two or three times, that would involve a frequent looking in,
which might make the contents heavy as lead. A current of cold air rushing

in too often, would wreck the most perfect compound. But perhaps heavy
bread was intended as part of the punishment of the people for their sins.
Some commentators say that the labors of the ten women are symbolical of
the poverty of the family. When people are in fortunate circumstances, the
women are supposed, like the lilies of the valley, to neither toil nor spin, but
when the adverse winds blow they suddenly find themselves compelled to
use their own brains and hands or perish.

The 29th verse at last gives us one touch of absolute equality, the right to
be eaten. This Josephus tells us really did occur in the sieges of Samaria by
Benhadad, of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and also in the last siege of
Jerusalem by the Romans.

E. C. S.

Amid the long list of directions for sacrifices and injunctions against
forbidden actions, chapter xii gives the law of purification, not only
degrading motherhood by the observance of certain ceremonies and
exclusion from the sanctuary, but by discriminating against sex, honoring
the birth of a son above that of a daughter.

According to the Levitical law, the ewe lambs were not used for sacrifice
as offerings to the Lord, because they were unclean. This was an idea put
forth by the priests and Levites. But there was a better and more rational
reason. To sacrifice the ewes was to speedily deplete the flocks, but beyond
a certain number needed as sires for the coming generation, the males could
be put to no better use than to feed the priests, the refuse of the animal, the
skin, feet, etc., constituted the sacrifice to the Lord.

Bishop Colenso, in his remarkable work on the Pentateuch, gives the
enormous number of lambs annually sacrificed by the Hebrews. A certain
portion of the flocks were assigned to the priests, who were continually
provided with the best mutton.

L. D. B.

THE BOOK OF NUMBERS
CHAPTER I.

Numbers i.

And the Lord spake unto Moses in tire wilderness of Sinai, saying,

2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after
their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names,
every male by their polls:

3 These are those which were numbered of the children of Israel by the
house of their fathers: all those that were numbered of the camps
throughout their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and
five hundred and fifty.

In this chapter Moses is commanded to number the people and the
princes of the tribe, males only, and by the houses of their fathers. As the
object was to see how many effective men there were able to go to war, the

priests, the women, the feeble old men and children were not counted.
Women have frequently been classified with priests in some privileges and
disabilities. At one time in the United States the clergy were not allowed to
vote nor hold office. Like women, they were considered too good to mingle
in political circles. For them to have individual opinions on the vital
questions of the hour might introduce dissensions alike into the church and
the home.

This census of able bodied men still runs on through chapter ii, and all
these potential soldiers are called children of their fathers. Although at this
period woman's chief duty and happiness was bearing children, no mention
is made of the mothers of this mighty host, though some woman had gone
to the gates of death to give each soldier life; provided him with rations
long before he could forage for himself, and first taught his little feet to
march to tune and time. But, perhaps, if we could refer to the old Jewish
census tables we might find that the able bodied males of these tribes,
favorites of Heaven, had all sprung, Minerva-like, from the brains of their
fathers, and that only the priests, the feeble old men and the children had
mothers to care for them, in the absence of the princes and soldiers.

However, in some valuable calculations of Schencher we learn that there
was some thought of the mothers of the tribes by German commentators.
We find in his census such references as the following: The children of
Jacob by Leah. The children of Jacob by Zilpah. The children of Jacob by
Rachel. The children of Jacob by Bilhah. But even this generous mention of
the mothers of the tribe of Jacob does not satisfy the exacting members of
the Revising Committee. We feel that the facts should have been stated
thus: The children of Leah, Zilpah, Rachel and Bilhah by Jacob, making
Jacob the incident instead of the four women. Men may consider this a
small matter on which to make a point, but in restoring woman's equality
everywhere we must insist on her recognition in all these minor particulars,

and especially in the Bible, to which people go for their authority on the
civil and social status of all womankind.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER II.

Numbers v.

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Command the children of Israel. that they put out of the camp every
leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the
dead:

3 Both male and female that they defile not their camps.

4 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

12 If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him.

14 And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and she be defiled: or if she
be not defiled:

15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring
her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour
no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy.

17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the
dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into
the water:

18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and uncover the
woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the
jealousy offering, and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that
causeth the curse:

19 And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, if
thou hast not gone aside be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the
curse:

20 But if thou hast gone aside, and if thou be defiled.

21 Then, the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and
the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and an
oath among they people.

24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth
the curse.

25 Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's
hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the
altar:

26 And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial
thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to
drink the water.

27 And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to
pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that

if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water
that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.

28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free.

At the first blush it seems very cruel for the Jewish God to order the
diseased and unfortunate to be thrown out of the camp and left in the
wilderness. But commentators suggest that they must have had a sanatorium
near by where the helpless could be protected. Though improbable, still the
suggestion will be a relief to sensitive souls. This ordinance of Moses
probably suggested the first idea of a hospital. The above account of the
unfortunate wife was called "trial by ordeal," of which Clarke gives a
minute description in his commentaries. It was common at one time among
many nations, the women in all cases being the chief sufferers as in the
modern trials for witchcraft. If the witch was guilty when thrown into the
water she went to the bottom, if innocent she floated on the surface and was
left to sink, so in either case her fate was the same. As men make and
execute the laws, prescribe and administer the punishment, "trials by a jury
or ordeal" for women though seemingly fair, are never based on principles
of equity. The one remarkable fact in all these social transgressions in the
early periods as well as in our modern civilization is that the penalties
whether moral or material all fall on woman. Verily the darkest page in
human history is the slavery of women!

The offering by the priest to secure her freedom was of the cheapest
character. Oil and frankincense signifying grace and acceptableness were
not permitted to be used in her case. The woman's head is uncovered as a
token of her shame, the dust from the floor signifies contempt and
condemnation, compelling the woman to drink water mixed with dirt and
gall is in the same malicious spirit. There is no instance recorded of one of
these trials by ordeal ever actually taking place, as divorce was so easy that

a man could put away his wife at pleasure, so he need not go to the expense
of even "a tenth part of an ephah of barley," on a wife of doubtful
faithfulness. Moreover the woman upon whom it was proposed to try all
these pranks might be innocent, and the jealous husband make himself
ridiculous in the eyes of the people. But the publication of these ordinances
no doubt had a restraining influence on the young and heedless daughters of
Israel, and they serve as landmarks in man's system of jurisprudence, to
show us how far back he has been consistent in his unjust legislation for
woman.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER III.

Numbers xii.

And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian
woman whom he had married.

2 And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he
not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.

3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were
upon the face of the earth.)

5 And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door
of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forth.

6 And He Said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I,
the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto
him in a dream.

8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark
speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then

were ye not afraid to speak against my Servant Moses?

9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them: and he departed.

10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam
became leprous, white as snow; and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and
behold, she was leprous.

11 And Aaron said unto Muses. Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the
sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.

13 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saving Heal her now, O God, I
beseech thee.

15 And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people
journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.

Here we have the first mention of Moses's second marriage, but the name
of the woman is not given, though she is the assigned cause of the sedition.
Both Aaron and Miriam had received a portion of the prophetic genius that
distinguished Moses, and they naturally thought that they should have some
share in the government, at least to make a few suggestions, when they
thought Moses made a blunder. Miriam was older than Moses, and had at
this time the experience of 120 years. When Moses was an infant on the
River Nile, Miriam was intrusted by his parents to watch the fate of the
infant in the bulrushes and the daughter of Pharaoh in her daily walks by,
the river side. It was her diplomacy that secured the child's own mother for
his nurse in the household of the King of Egypt.

It is rather remarkable, if Moses was as meek as he is represented in the
third verse, that he should have penned that strong assertion of his own
innate modesty. There are evidences at this and several other points that

Moses was not the sole editor of the Pentateuch, if it can be shown that he
wrote any part of it. Speaking of the punishment of Miriam, Clarke. in his
commentaries says it is probable that Miriam was chief in this mutiny;
hence she was punished while Aaron was spared. A mere excuse for man's
injustice; had he been a woman he would have shared the same fate. The
real reason was that Aaron was a priest. Had he been smitten with leprosy,
his sacred office would have suffered and the priesthood fallen into
disrepute.

As women are supposed to have no character or sacred office, it is always
safe to punish them to the full extent of the law. So Miriam was not only
afflicted with leprosy, but also shut out of the camp for seven days. One
would think that potential motherhood should make women as a class as
sacred as the priesthood. In common parlance we have much fine-spun
theorizing on the exalted office of the mother, her immense influence in
moulding the character of her sons; "the hand that rocks the cradle moves
the world," etc., but in creeds and codes, in constitutions and Scriptures, in
prose and verse, we do not see these lofty paeans recorded or verified in
living facts. As a class, women were treated among the Jews as an inferior
order of beings, just as they are to-day in all civilized nations. And now, as
then, men claim to be guided by the will of God.

In this narrative we see thus early woman's desire to take some part in
government, though denied all share in its honor and dignity. Miriam, no
doubt, saw the humiliating distinctions of sex in the Mosaic code and
customs, and longed for the power to make the needed amendments. In
criticising the discrepancies in Moses's character and government, Miriam
showed a keen insight into the common principles of equity and individual
conduct, and great self-respect and self- assertion in expressing her opinions
—qualities most lacking in ordinary women.

Evidently the same blood that made Moses and Aaron what they were, as
leaders of men, flowed also in the veins, of Miriam. As daughters are said to
be more like their fathers and sons like their mothers, Moses probably
inherited his meekness and distrust of himself from his mother, and Miriam
her self-reliance and heroism from her father. Knowing these laws of
heredity, Moses should have averted the punishment of Miriam instead of
allowing the full force of God's wrath to fall upon her alone. If Miriam had
helped to plan the journey to Canaan, it would no doubt have been
accomplished in forty days instead of forty years. With her counsel in the
cabinet, the people might have enjoyed peace and prosperity, cultivating the
arts and sciences, instead of making war on other tribes, and burning
offerings to their gods. Miriam was called a prophetess, as the Lord had, on
some occasions, it is said, spoken through her, giving messages to the
women. After their triumphal escape from Egypt, Miriam led the women in
their songs of victory. With timbrels and dances, they chanted, that grand
chorus that has been echoed and re-echoed for centuries in all our
cathedrals round the globe. Catholic writers represent Miriam "as a type of
the Virgin Mary, being legislatrix over the Israelitish women, especially
endowed with the spirit of prophecy."

Numbers xx.

Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the
desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode In Kadesh; and
Miriam died there, and was buried there.

Eusebius says her tomb was to be seen at Kadesh, near the city of Petra,
in his time, and that she and her brothers all died in the same year, it is

hoped to reappear as equals in the resurrection.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER IV.

Numbers vi.

1 And the Lord said unto Moses,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say, When either man or woman
shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, unto the Lord.

5 All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon
his head; until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto
the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head
grow.

The Nazarites, both men and women, allowed their hair to grow long, as
the hair of the Nazarine was a token of subjection, the man to God, the
woman to man. St. Paul no doubt alluded to this custom when he said the
woman ought to have power upon her head, that is, wear her hair and veil
and bonnet in church as a proof of her subjection to man, as he is to the
Lord. The discipline of the church to-day requires a woman to cover her
head before entering a cathedral for worship.

The fashion for men to sit with their heads bare in our churches, while
women must wear bonnets, is based on this ancient custom of the Nazarine.
But as fashion is gradually reducing the bonnet to an infinitesimal fraction
it will probably in the near future be dispensed with altogether. A lady in
England made the experiment of going to the established church without
her bonnet, but it created such an agitation in the congregation that the
Bishop wrote her a letter on the impropriety and requested her to come with
her head covered. She refused. He then called and labored with her as to the
sinfulness of the proceedings, and at parting commanded her either to cover
her bead or stay away from church altogether. She choose the latter. I saw
and beard that letter read at a luncheon in London, where several ladies
were present. It was received with peals of laughter. The lady is the wife of
a colonel in the British army.

Numbers xxv.

6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his
brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses and all the
congregation of the children of Israel.

7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw
it, he rose and took a javelin in his hand;

8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of
them through, the man of Israel, and the woman.

14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with
the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief
house among the Simeonites.

15 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the
daughter of Zur: he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.

Some commentators say the tie between Zimri and Cozbi was a
matrimonial alliance, understood in good faith by the Midianitish woman.
He was a prince and she was a princess.

But the Jewish law forbade a man going outside of his tribe for a wife. It
was deemed idolatry. But why kill the woman. She had not violated the
laws of her tribe and was no doubt ignorant of Jewish law. Other
commentators say that Zimri was notorious at the licentious feasts of Baal-
poer and that the Midianitish women tempted the sons of Israel to idolatry.
Hence the justice of killing both Zimri and Cozbi in one blow. It is
remarkable that the influence of woman is so readily and universally
recognized in leading the strongest men into sin, but so uniformly ignored
as a stimulus to purity and perfection. Unless the good predominates over
the evil in the mothers of the race, there is no hope of our ultimate
perfection.

E. C. S.

The origin of the command that women should cover their heads is found in
an old Jewish or Hebrew legend which appears in literature for the first time
in Genesis vi. There we are told the Sons of God, that is, the angels, took to
wives the daughters of men, and begat the giants and heroes, who were
instrumental in bringing about the flood. The Rabbins held that the way in
which the angels got possession of women was by laying hold of their hair;
they accordingly warned women to cover their heads in public, so that the
angels might not get possession of them. It was believed that the strength of

people lay in their hair, as the story of Samson illustrates. Paul merely
repeats this warning which he must often have heard at the feet of Gamaliel,
who was at that time Prince or President of the Sanhedrim, telling women
to have a "power (that is, protection) on their heads because of the angels:"
I Corinthians, chapter xi, verse 10. "For this cause ought the woman to have
power on her head because of the angels." Thus the command has its origin
in an absurd old myth. This legend will be found fully treated in a German
pamphlet—Die paulinische Angelologie und Daemonologie. Otto Everling,
Gottingen, 1888.

If the command to keep silence in the churches has no higher origin than
that to keep covered in public, should so much weight be given it, or should
it be so often quoted as having Divine sanction?

The injunctions of St. Paul have had such a decided influence in fixing
the legal status of women that it is worth our while to consider their source.
In dealing with this question we must never forget that the majority of the
writings of the New Testament were not really written or published by those
whose names they bear. Ancient writers considered it quite permissible for a
man to put out letters under the name of another, and thus to bring his own
ideas before the world under the protection of an honored sponsor. It is not
usually claimed that St. Paul was the originator of the great religious
movement called Christianity, but there is a strong belief that he was
divinely inspired. His inward persuasions, and especially his visions
appeared as a gift or endowment which had the force of inspiration;
therefore, his mandates concerning women have a strong hold upon the
popular mind, and when opponents to the equality of the sexes are put to
bay they glibly quote his injunctions.

We congratulate ourselves that we may shift some of these biblical
arguments that have such a sinister effect from their firm foundation. He

who claims to give a message must satisfy us that he has himself received
such message.

L. S.

CHAPTER V.

Numbers xxvii.

1 Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of
Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of
Manasseh, the son of Joseph; and these are the names of his daughters:
Mahiah, Noah, and Hogiah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.

2 And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before
the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation, saying,

3 Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of
them that gathered themselves together again at the Lord in the company of
Korah.

4 Why should the name of our father be done away from among his
family, because he hath no son? Give us therefore a possession among the
brethren of our father.

5 And Moses brought their cause before the Lord.

6 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right thou shalt surely give them a
possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren; and thou shalt
cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.

8 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saving, If a man die,
and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his
daughter.

9 And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his
brethren.

10 And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his
father's brethren.

11 And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance
unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it;
and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the Lord
commanded Moses.

The respect paid to the daughters of Zelophehad at that early day is
worthy the imitation of the rulers in our own times. These daughters were
no doubt fine-looking, well-developed women, gifted with the power of
eloquence, able to impress their personality and arguments on that immense
assemblage of the people. They were allowed to plead their own case in
person before the lawgivers, the priests, and the princes, the rulers in State
and Church, and all the congregation, at the very door of the tabernacle.
They presented their case with such force and clearness that all saw the
justice of their claims. Moses was so deeply impressed that he at once

retired to his closet to listen to the still small voice of conscience and
commune with his Maker. In response, the Lord said to him: "The daughters
of Zelophehad speak right, if a man die and leave no son, then ye shall
cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughters." It would have been
commendable if the members of the late Constitutional Convention in New
York had, like Moses, asked the guidance of the Lord in deciding the rights
of the daughters of the Van Rensselaers, the Stuyvesants, the Livingstons,
and the Knickerbockers. Their final action revealed the painful fact that
they never thought to take the case to the highest court in the moral
universe. The daughters of Zelophehad were fortunate in being all of one
mind; none there to plead the fatigue, the publicity, the responsibility of
paying taxes and investing property, of keeping a bank account, and having
some knowledge of mathematics. The daughters of Zelophehad were happy
to accept all the necessary burdens, imposed by the laws of inheritance,
while the daughters of the Knickerbockers trembled at the thought of
assuming the duties involved in self-government.

As soon as Moses laid the case before the Lord, He not only allowed the
justice of the claim, but gave "a statute of judgment," by which the Jewish
magistrates should determine all such cases in the division of property in
the land of Canaan in all after ages.

When the rights of property were secured to married women in the State
of New York in 1848, a certain class were opposed to the measure, and
would cross the street to avoid speaking to the sisters who had prayed and
petitioned for its success. They did not object, however, in due time to use
the property thus secured, and the same type of women will as readily avail
them selves of all the advantages of political equality when the right of
suffrage is secured.

E. C. S.

The account given in this chapter of the directions as to the division or
inheritance of property in the case of Zelophehad, and his daughters shows
them to be just, because the daughters are to be treated as well as the sons
would be; but the law thereafter given, apparently suggested by this
querying of Zelophehad's daughters in reference to their father's possessions
is obviously unjust, in that it gives no freedom to the owner of property as
to the disposition of the same after his death, i. e. leaves him without power
to will it to any one, and leaves unmentioned the female relatives as heirs at
law. Only "brethren" and "kinsman" are the words used, and it is very plain
that only males were heirs, except where a man had no son, but had one or
more daughters. "The exception proves the rule."

P. A. H.

CHAPTER VI.

Numbers xviii.

11 And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave
offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy
sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is
clean in thy house shall eat of it.

19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel
offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters
with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the
LORD unto thee and to I thy seed with thee.

The house of Aaron was now thoroughly confirmed in the priesthood,
and the Lord gives minute directions as to the provisions to be made for the
priests. The people then, as now, were made to feel that whatever was given
to them was given to the Lord, and that "the Lord loveth a cheerful giver."
That their minds might be at peace and always in a devout frame, in
communion with God, they must not be perplexed with worldly cares and

anxieties about bread and raiment for themselves and families. Whatever
privations they suffered themselves, they must see that their priests were
kept above all human wants and temptations. The Mosaic code is
responsible for the religious customs of our own day and generation.
Church property all over this broad land is exempt from taxation, while the
smallest house and lot of every poor widow is taxed at its full value. Our
Levites have their homes free, and good salaries from funds principally
contributed by women, for preaching denunciatory sermons on women and
their sphere. They travel for half fare, the lawyer pleads their cases for
nothing, the physician medicates their families for nothing, and generally in
the world of work they are served at half price. While the common people
must be careful not to traduce their neighbors lest they be sued for libel, the
Levite in surplice and gown from his pulpit (aptly called the coward's
castle) may smirch the fairest characters and defame the noblest lives with
impunity.

This whole chapter is interesting reading as the source of priestly power,
that has done more to block woman's way to freedom than all other earthly
influences combined. But the chief point in this chapter centers in the above
verses, as the daughters of the Levites are here to enjoy an equal privilege
with the sons. Scott tells us "that covenants were generally ratified at an
amiable feast, in which salt was always freely used, hence it became an
emblem of friendship." Perhaps it was the purifying, refining influence of
this element that secured these friendly relations between the sons and
daughters of the priesthood on one occasion at least. From the present bitter,
turbulent tone of our Levites, I fear the salt we both manufacture and import
must all have lost its savor.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER VII.

Numbers xxii.

21 And Balsam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went
with the princes of Moab.

22 And God's anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the
Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding
upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.

23 And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his
sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went
into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.

24 But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being
on this side, and a wall on that side.

25 And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto
the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he smote her
again.

26 And the angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place,
where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.

27 And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under
Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.

28 And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam,
What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?

29 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me; I would
there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.

30 And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou
hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so
unto thee? And he said, Nay.

31 Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the
Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed
down his bead, and fell flat on his face.

32 And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten
thine ass these three times? Behold, I went out to withstand thee, because
thy way is perverse before me:

33 And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she
had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive.

34 And Balaam, said unto the angel of the Lord, I have sinned; for I knew
not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease
thee, I will get me back again.

The chief point of interest in this parable of Balaam and his ass, is that
the latter belonged to the female sex. This animal has been one of the most
remarkable characters in literature. Her virtues have been quoted in the
stately cathedral, in the courts of justice, in the editorial sanctum, in both
tragedy and comedy on the stage, to point a moral and adorn a tale. Some of
the fairest of Eve's daughters bear her baptismal name, and she has been
immortalized in poetry and prose. Wordsworth sends her with his Peter Bell
to enjoy the first flowers of early spring. To express her love of the
beautiful "upon the pivot of her skull she turned round her long left ear"
while stolid Peter makes no sign—

"A primrose by a river's brim
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more."

The courage and persistence of the ass has made her as famous in war as
in literature. She is a marked feature everywhere in military stations, alike
in the camp and the field, and her bray always in the minor key, gives a
touch of pathos to the music of the band! The ass accompanied Deborah
and Barak when they went to fight their great battle, she has gone with
pioneers in all their weary wanderings, and has taken an active part in the
commerce of the world, bearing the heaviest burdens though poorly fed and
sheltered. At one time this animal voted at three successive elections in the
state of New York. The property qualification being $250, just the price of a
jackass, Ben Franklin facetiously asked "if a man must own a jackass in
order to vote, who does the voting, the man or the jackass?" It so happened
once that the same animal passed into the hands of three different owners,
constituting all the earthly possessions of each at that time and thus by
proxy she was represented at the polls. Yet with this world-wide fame, this
is the first time the sacred historian has so richly endowed and highly
complimented any living thing of the supposed inferior sex. Far wiser than

the master who rode her, with a far keener spiritual insight than he
possessed, and so intensely earnest and impressible, that to meet the
necessities of the occasion, she suddenly exercised the gift of speech. While
Balaam was angry, violent, stubborn and unreasonable, the ass calmly
manifested all the cardinal virtues. Obedient to the light that was in her, she
was patient under abuse, and tried in her mute way to save the life of her
tormentor from the sword of the angel. But when all ordinary warnings of
danger proved unavailable, she burst into speech and opened the eyes of her
stolid master. Scott, who considers this parable a literal fact, says in his
commentaries, "The faculty of speech in man is the gift of God and we
cannot comprehend how we ourselves articulate. We need not therefore be
surprised that the Lord made use of the mouth of the ass to rebuke the
madness of His prophet, and to shame him by the reproof and example of a
brute. Satan spoke to Eve by a subtle male serpent, but the Lord chose to
speak to Balaam by a she ass, for He does not use enticing words of man's
wisdom, but works by instruments and means that men despise."

Seeing that the Lord has endowed "the daughters of men" also with the
gift of speech, and they may have messages from Him to deliver to "the
sons of God," it would be wise for the prophets of our day to admit them
into their Conferences, Synods and General Assemblies, and give them
opportunities for speech.

The appeal of the meek, long suffering ass, to her master, to remember
her faithfulness and companionship from his youth up, is quite pathetic and
reminds one of woman's appeals and petitions to her law-givers for the last
half century. In the same language she might say to her oppressors, to
fathers, husbands, brothers and sons, have we not served you with
faithfulness; companions from your youth up; watched you through all your
infant years; and carried you triumphantly through every danger? When at
the midnight hour or the cock crowing, your first born lifted up his voice

and wept, lo! we were there, with water for his parched lips; a cool place for
his aching head; or patiently for hours to pace with him the chamber floor.
In youth and manhood what have we not done to add to your comfort and
happiness; ever rejoicing in your triumphs and sympathizing in your
defeats?

This waiting and watching for half a century to recover our civil and
political rights and yet no redress, makes the struggle seem like a painful
dream in which one strives to fly from some impending danger and yet
stands still. Balaam, unlike our masters, confessed that he had sinned, but it
is evident from his conduct that he felt no special contrition for
disobedience to the commands of his Creator, nor for his cruelty to the
creature. So merely to save his life he sulkily retraced his steps with a
determination still to consider Barak's propositions. Whether he took the
same ass on the next journey does not appear.

It must have been peculiarly humiliating to that proud man, who boasted
of his eyes being open and seeing the vision of the Almighty, to be reproved
and silenced by the mouth of a brute. As the Lord appeared first to the ass
and spake by her, he had but little reason to boast that his eyes were opened
by the Lord. The keen spiritual insight and the ready power of speech with
which the female sex has been specially endowed, are often referred to with
ridicule and reproach by stolid, envious observers of the less impressible
sex.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER VIII.

Numbers xx.

1 And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children
of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded.

2 If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul
with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that
proceedeth out of his mouth.

3 If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord, and bind herself by a bond,
being in her father's house in her youth;

4 And her father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound
her soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her; then all her vows shall
stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand.

5 But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth, not any of her
vows, or of her bonds wherewith she had bound her soul, shall stand; and
the Lord shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her.

6 And if she had at all a husband, when she vowed, or uttered aught out
of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul;

7 And her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he
heard it; then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her
soul shall stand.

8 But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it, then he
shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her
lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of none effect; and the Lord shall
forgive her.

9 But every vow of a widow, and of her that is divorced, wherewith they
have bound their souls, shall stand against her.

13 Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband
may establish it, or her husband may make it void.

14 But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day;
then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her he
confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard
them.

15 But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard
them; then he shall bear her iniquity.

16 These are the statutes, which the Lord commanded Moses, between a
man and his wife, between the father and his daughter, being yet in her
youth in her father's house.

A vow is a religious promise made to God, and yet in the face of such a
definition is placed the authority of husband and father between the woman
and her God. God seems thus far to have dealt directly with women when

they sinned, but in making a religious vow, or dedication of themselves to
some high purpose, their fathers and husbands must be consulted. A man's
vow stands; a woman's is always conditional. Neither wisdom nor age can
make her secure in any privileges, though always personally responsible for
crime. If she have sufficient intelligence to decide between good and evil,
and pay the penalty for violated law, why not make her responsible for her
words and deeds when obedient to moral law. To hold woman in such an
attitude is to rob her words and actions of all moral character. We see from
this chapter that Jewish women, as well as those of other nations, were held
in a condition of perpetual tutelage or minority under the authority of the
father until married and then under the husband, hence vows if in their
presence if disallowed were as nothing. That Jewish men appreciate the
degradation of woman's position is seen in a part of their service in which
each man says on every Sabbath day, "I thank Thee, oh Lord, that I was not
born a woman!" and the woman meekly responds, "I thank Thee, oh Lord,
that I am what I am, according to Thy holy, will."

The injunction in the above texts in regard to the interference of fathers is
given only once, while the husband's authority is mentioned three times. If
the woman was betrothed, even the future husband had the right to disallow
her vows. It is supposed by, some expositors that by a parity of reason
minor sons should have been under the same restrictions as daughters, but if
it were intended, it is extraordinary that daughters alone should have been
mentioned. Scott, in extenuating the custom, says: "Males were certainly
allowed more liberty than females; the vows of the latter might be adjudged
more prejudicial to families; or the sons being more immediately under the
father's tuition might be thought less liable to be inveigled into rash
engagements of any kind."

E. C. S.

Woman is here taught that she is irresponsible. The father or the husband is
all. They are wisdom, power, responsibility. But woman is a nonentity, if
still in her father's house, or if she has a husband. I object to this teaching. It
is unjust to man that he should have the added responsibility of his
daughter's or wife's word, and it is cruel to woman because the
irresponsibility is enslaving in its influence. It is contrary to true Gospel
teaching, for only, in freedom to do right can a soul dwell in that love which
is the fulfilling of the law.

The whole import of this chapter is that a woman's word is worthless,
unless she is a widow or divorced. While an unmarried daughter, her father
is her surety; when married, the husband allows or disallows what she
promises, and the promise is kept or broken according to his will. The
whole Mosaic law in this respect seems based upon the idea that a woman
is an irresponsible being; and that it is supposed each daughter will marry at
some time, and thus be continually under the control of some male—the
father or the husband. Unjust, arbitrary and debasing are such ideas, and the
laws based upon them. Could the Infinite Father and Mother have give them
to Moses? I think not.

P. A. H.

CHAPTER IX.

Numbers xxxi.

9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and
their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and
all their goods.

10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly
castles with fire.

12 And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses
and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel,
unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.

14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains
over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.

15 And Moses said unto them, have ye saved all the women alive?

16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel. through the counsel of
Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor. and there

was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.

17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every
woman that hath known man.

18 But all the women children, that have not known a man keep alive for
yourselves.

25 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying.

26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast,
thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:

32 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

32 And the, booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had
caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand
sheep,

33 And threescore and twelve thousand beeves.

34 And threescore and one thousand asses.

35 And thirty and two thousand persons in of women that had not known
man.

It appears from the enumeration here of the booty, that the Israelites took
in this war against the Midianites seventy-two thousand beeves, six hundred
and seventy-five thousand sheep, sixty-one thousand asses and thirty-two
thousand women virgins, beside the women and children killed, (as they
said) by God's order. The thirty-two thousand women and women children
were given to the soldiers and the priests. Why should the social purity
societies in England and America who believe in the divine origin of all

Scripture object to the use of women children by their statesmen and
soldiers when the custom was permitted to the chosen people of Israel?
True, the welfare of the priests, lawgivers and soldiers was carefully
guarded in selecting for them the purest of the daughters of the Midianites.

Surely such records are enough to make the most obstinate believer doubt
the divine origin of Jewish history and the claim of that people to have been
under the special guidance of Jehovah. Their claim to have had
conversations with God daily and to have acted under His commands in all
their tergiversations of word and action is simply blasphemous. We must
discredit their pretensions, or else the wisdom of Jehovah himself. "Talking
with God," at that period was a mere form of speech, as "tempted of the
devil" was once in the records of our courts. Criminals said "tempted of the
devil, I did commit the crime." This chapter places Moses and Eleazar the
priest, in a most unenviable light according to the moral standard of any
period of human history. Verily the revelations in the Pall Hall Gazette a
few years ago, pale before this wholesale desecration of women and
children. Bishop Colenso in his exhaustive work on the Pentateuch shows
that most of the records therein claiming to be historical facts are merely
parables and figments of the imagination of different writers, composed at
different periods, full of contradictions, interpolations and discrepancies.

He shows geologically and geographically that a flood over the whole
face of the earth was a myth. He asks how was it possible to save two of
every animal, bird and creeping thing on both continents and get them
safely into the ark and back again to their respective localities. How could
they make their way from South America up north through the frigid zone
and cross over the polar ices to the eastern continent and carry with them
the necessary food to which they had been accustomed, they would all have
perished with the cold before reaching the Arctic circle. While the animals
from the northern latitudes would all perish with heat before reaching the

equator. What a long weary journey the animals, birds and fowls would
have taken from Japan and China to Mount Ararat. The parable as an
historical fact is hedged with impossibilities and so is the whole journey of
forty years from Egypt to Canaan; but if we make up our minds to believe
in miracles then it is plain sailing from Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy,
Both Ezra and Jeremiah are said to have written the last book of the
Pentateuch, and some, question whether Moses was the author of either.
Bishop Colenso also questions the arithmetical calculations of the historians
in regard to the conquest of the Midianites, as described in the book of
Numbers.

E. C. S.

But how thankful we must be that we are no longer obligated to believe, as
a matter of fact, of vital consequence to our eternal hope, each separate
statement contained in the Pentateuch, such for instance, as the story related
in Numbers xxxi!—where we are told that a force of twelve thousand
Israelites slew all the males of the Midianites, took captive all the females
and children, seized all their cattle and flocks, (seventy-two thousand oxen,
sixty one thousand asses, six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,)
and all their goods, and burnt all their cities, and all their goodly castles,
without the loss of a single man,—and then, by command of Moses,
butchered in cold blood all the women, except "the women-children and
virgins, to be given to the priests and soldiers."

They amounted to thirty-two thousand, mostly, we suppose, under the
age of sixteen. We may fairly reckon that there were as many more under
the age of forty, and half as many more above forty, making altogether
eighty thousand females, of whom, according to the story, Moses ordered

forty-eight thousand to be killed, besides (say) twenty thousand young
boys. The tragedy of Cawnpore, where three hundred were butchered,
would sink into nothing, compared with such a massacre, if, indeed, we
were required to believe it.

The obvious intention of Moses, as shown in these directions, was to
keep the Jewish race from amalgamation. But the great lawgiver seems to
have ignored the fact, or been ignorant of it, that transmission of race
qualities is even greater through the female line than through the male, and
if they kept the women children for themselves they were making sure the
fact that in days to come there would be Jewish descendants who might be
Jews in name, but, through the law of heredity, aliens in spirit. The freedom
of the natural law will make itself evident, for so-called natural law is
divine.

P. A. H.

Zipporah the wife of Moses was a Midianite, Jethro her father was a priest
of some sagacity and consideration. When he met Moses in the desert he
gave him valuable advice about the government of his people, which the
great lawgiver obeyed.

The sons of Zipporah and Moses, Gershon and Eliezer, were therefore of
Midianite blood, yet Moses sent an army of twelve thousand armed for war;
a thousand of each tribe, with orders to slay every man. If the venerable
Jethro was still alive he must have been murdered by his grandsons and
their comrades. This is a most extraordinary story. If after the men, women
and male children were all killed, thirty thousand maidens and young girls
still remained, the Midianites must have been too large a tribe to have been

wholly destroyed by twelve thousand Israelites, unless the Jewish God
fought the battle.

L. D. B.

CHAPTER X.

Numbers xxxii.

1 And the chief fathers of the families or the children of Gilead drew
near, and spake before Moses, and before the princes, the chief fathers of
the children of Israel:

2 And they said, The Lord commanded my lord to give the land for an
inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by
the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his
daughters.

3 And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the
children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance
of our fathers, and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they
are received; so shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance.

4 And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their
inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are
received:

5 And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of
the Lord, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well.

6 ……the Lord doth command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad,
saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the
tribe of their father shall they marry.

7 So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe
to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the
inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.

8 And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the
children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her
father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his
fathers.

10 Even is the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters of
Zelophehad:

11 …… and were turned unto their father's brothers' sons.

In a former chapter there was a sense of justice shown towards the
daughters of Zelophehad, but here a new complication arises. The uncles of
these girls had their eyes on the property and perhaps feared that their sons
had not found favor in the eyes of their cousins, as they might have seen
and admired some fine looking young men from other tribes. So the crafty
old uncles moved in time to get a statute passed that would compel
daughters to marry in the tribe of their fathers and got a direct command
from the Lord to that effect, then the young women, compelled to limit their
predilections, married their cousins, setting the laws of heredity quite aside;
property in all ages being considered of more importance than persons.

Thus, after making some show of justice in giving the daughters of
Zelophehad the inheritance of their fathers, the Israelites began to consider
the loss to their tribe, if peradventure the five sisters should marry into other
tribes and all this property be transferred to their enemies.

They seemed to consider these noble women destitute of the virtue of
patriotism, of family pride, of all the tender sentiments of friendship,
kindred and home, and so with their usual masculine arrogance they passed
laws to compel the daughters of Zelophehad to do what they probably
would have done had there been no law to that effect. These daughters were
known by the euphonious names of Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and
Noah, and they all married their father's brothers' sons. Cousins on the
mother's side would probably have been forbidden.

If Moses, as the mouthpiece of God, aimed to do exact justice, why did
he not pass an ordinance giving property in all cases equally to sons and
daughters.

E. C. S..

Moses gave what appears to be, in the light of this Christian era, a just
judgment when he decided that the daughters of Zelophehad should inherit
their father's property, but he gave as the law of inheritance the direction
that "if a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to
pass unto his daughter;" thus, as I think, unjustly discriminating between
women who have brothers and women who have none, and he goes on
further to deal unjustly with women when he directs that the daughters of
Zelophehad marry so that the inheritance justly awarded them should not go
out of the family of the tribe of their fathers.

"Let them marry to whom they think best," and those words seemingly
recognize their righteous freedom. But immediately he limits that phrase
and informs the five women they must only marry in their father's tribe, and
were limited also to their father's family. The result was that each married
her own cousin. If this was contrary to physiological law, as some
distinguished physiologists affirm, then they were compelled by the
arbitrary law of Moses to break the law of God.

P. A. H.

THE BOOK OF
DEUTERONOMY.
CHAPTER I.

Deuteronomy i.

3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the
first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel,
according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them;

6 The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long
enough in this mount:

7 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites,
and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the
vale, and in the south, and by sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and
unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.

8 Behold, I have set the before you: go in and possess the land which the
Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them
and to their seed after them.

10 The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day
as the stars of heaven for multitude.

This book contains an account of what passed in the wilderness the last
month of the fortieth year, which is supposed to be written by Ezra, as the
history is continued several days after the death of Moses. Moses' farewell
address to the children of Israel is full of wisdom, with a touch of pathos.
This had been a melancholy year with the Hebrews in the death of Miriam,
Aaron and Moses. The manner in which this people were kept wandering
up and down on the very verge of the land of Canaan because they were
rebellious does seem like child's play. No wonder they were discouraged
and murmured. It is difficult from the record to see that these people were
any better fitted to enter the promised land at the end of forty years than
when they first left Egypt. But the promise that they should be as numerous
as the stars in the heavens, according to Adam Clarke, had been fulfilled.
He tells us that only three thousand stars can be seen by the naked eye,
which the children of Israel numbered at this time six hundred thousand
fighting men, beside all the women and children. Astronomers, However,
now estimate that there are over seventy-five million stars within the range
of their telescopes. If census takers had prophetic telescopes, they could no
doubt see the promises to the Hebrews fully realized in that one line of their
ambition.

Deuteronomy ii.

34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men,
and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain.

Though the women were ignored in all the civil affairs and religious
observances of the Jews, yet in making war on other tribes they thought
them too dangerous to be allowed to live, and so they killed all the women
and children. The women might much better have helped to do the fighting,
as it is far easier to die in the excitement of the battlefield than to be
murdered in cold blood. In making war on neighboring tribes, the Jewish
military code permitted them to take all the pure, virgins and child women
for booty to be given to the priests and soldiers, thus debauching the men of
Israel and destroying all feelings of honor and chivalry for women. This
utter contempt for all the decencies of life, and all the natural personal
rights of women as set forth in these pages, should destroy in the minds of
women at least, all authority to superhuman origin and stamp the
Pentateuch at least as emanating from the most obscene minds of a
barbarous age.

Deuteronomy v, vi.

16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath
commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well
with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

17 Thou shalt not kill.

18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

19 Neither shalt thou steal.

20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet
thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his
ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's.

2 That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and
his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's
son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

The best commentary on these texts is that no Revising Committee of
Ecclesiastics has found it necessary to make any suggestions as to whom
the commandments are addressed. Suppose we reverse the language and see
how one-sided it would seem addressed only to women. Suppose this were
the statement. Here is a great lawgiver and he says: "Thou art to keep all
God's commandments, thou and thy daughters and thy daughter's daughters,
and these are the commandments: 'Thou shalt honor thy mother and thy
father.' 'Thou shalt not steal nor lie.' 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
husband, nor her field, nor her ox, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.'"

Would such commandments occasion no remark among Biblical
scholars? In our criminal code to-day the pronouns she, her and hers are not
found, yet we are tried in the courts, imprisoned and hung as "he," "him" or
"his," though denied the privileges of citizenship, because the masculine
pronouns apply only to disabilities. What a hustling there would be among
prisoners and genders if laws and constitutions, Scriptures and
commandments, played this fast and loose game with the men of any
nation.

Deuteronomy iv.

5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my
God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to
possess it.

6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your
understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes,
and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as
the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so
righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

Adam Clarke in his comments on chapter iv, says, "there was no form of
worship at this time on the face of the earth that was not wicked and
obscene, puerile and foolish and ridiculous, except that established by God
himself among the Israelites, and every part of this taken in its connection
and reference may be truly called a wise and reasonable service. Almost all
the nations of the earth manifested in time their respect for the Jewish
religion by copying different parts of the Mosaic code as to civil and moral
customs."

As thoughtful, intelligent women, we question all this: First.—We see no
evidence that a just and wise being wrote either the canon or civil laws that
have been gradually compiled by ecclesiastics and lawgivers. Second.—We
cannot accept any code or creed that uniformly defrauds woman of all her
natural rights. For the last half century we have publicly and persistently
appealed from these laws, which Clarke says all nations have copied, to the
common sense of a more humane and progressive age. To-day women are
asking to be delivered from all the curses and blessings alike of the Jewish

God and the ordinances he established. In this book we have the ten
commandments repeated.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER II.

Deuteronomy vii.

1 When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou
goest to possess it and hath cast out many nations before thee.

2 Thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no
covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt
not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

4 For they will turn away thy son from following me.

5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break
down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images
with fire.

6 For thou art a holy people.

7 The Lord did not set his love upon you, not choose you, because ye
were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:

8 But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath
which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a
mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the
hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

With the seven nations that God cast out, the children of Israel were
commanded to make no covenants, nor matrimonial alliances lest they
should fall into idolatry. As men are more given to wandering in strange
countries than women these injunctions are intended specially for them.
Adam Clarke says, the heart being naturally inclined to evil, the idolatrous
wife would more readily draw aside the believing husband, than the
believing husband the idolatrous wife. That being the case, could not the
believing wife with her subtle influence have brought over the idolatrous
husband? Why should she not have the power to convert to one religion as
well as another, especially as there was no choice between them. There
could not have been anything worse than the Jewish religion illustrated in
their daily walk and conversation, as described in their books, and if the
human heart naturally inclined to evil, as many converts might have been
made to the faith of Moses as to any other.

With this consideration it is plain that if the Jews had offered women any
superior privileges, above any other tribe, they could have readily converted
the women to their way of thinking. The Jewish God seems as vacillating
and tempest-tossed between loving and hating his subjects as the most
undisciplined son of Adam. The supreme ideal of these people was pitiful to
the last degree and the appeals to them were all on the lowest plane of
human ambition. The chief promise to the well-doer was that his
descendants should be as numerous as the sands of the sea.

In chapter ix when rebellion at Horeb is described, Aaron only is refered
to, and in chapter x when his death is mentioned, nothing is said of Miriam.
In the whole recapitulation she is forgotten, though altogether the grandest
character of the three, though cast out of the camp and stricken with
leprosy, in vengeance, she harbors no resentment, but comforts and cheers
the women with songs and dances, all through their dreary march of forty
years.

Deuteronomy x.

18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth
the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of
Egypt.

The sacred fabulist has failed to give us any choice examples in which
the Jews executed just judgments for widows or fatherless girls; on the
contrary in all their dealings with women of all ranks, classes and ages they
were merciless and unjust.

As to the stranger, their chief occupation was war and wholesale
slaughter, not only of the men on the battlefield, but of innocent women and
children, destroying their cities and making their lands desolate. A humane
person reading these books for the first time without any glamour of divine
inspiration, would shudder at their cruelty and blush at their obscenity.

Those who can make these foul facts illustrate beautiful symbols must
have genius of a high order.

Deuteronomy xii.

18 But thou must eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which
the Lord thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy
manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates:
and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that them puttest thine
hands unto.

19 Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou
livest upon the earth.

If women have been faithful to any class of the human family it has been
to the Levite. The chief occupation of their lives next to bearing children
has been to sustain the priesthood and the churches.

With continual begging, fairs and donation parties, they have helped to
plant religious temples on every hill-top and valley, and in the streets of all
our cities, so that the doleful church bell is forever ringing in our ears. The
Levites have not been an unqualified blessing, ever fanning the flames of
religious persecution they have been the chief actors in subjugating
mankind.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER III.

Deuteronomy xiii.

6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the
wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee
secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known,
thou, nor thy fathers;

7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh
unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the
other end of the earth;

8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall
thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:

9 But thou shalt surely kill him: thine hand shall be first upon him to put
him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

Here is the foundation of all the terrible persecutions for a change of faith
so lamentable among the Jews and so intensified among the Christians. And

this idea still holds, that faith in the crude speculations of unbalanced minds
as to the nature of the great first cause and his commands as to the conduct
of life, should be the same in the beginning, now and forever. All other
institutions may change, opinions on all other subjects may be modified and
improved, but the old theologies are a finality that have reached the
ultimatum of spiritual thought. We imagine our religion with its dogmas and
absurdities must remain like the rock of ages, forever.

Deuteronomy xv.

6 And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and
thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that
is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that
are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place
his name there.

14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy
daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the
stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.

15 Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in
the place which the Lord shall choose.

16 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy
God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread,
and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.

In the general festivities women of all ranks were invited to take part, but
three times a year Moses had something special to say to the men; then

women were not allowed to be present. We have no instance thus far in the
Jewish economy of any direct communication from God to woman. The
general opinion seemed to be that man was an all-sufficient object of
worship for them, an idea not confined to that period. Milton makes his Eve
with sweet humility say to Adam, "God thy law, thou mine."

This is the fundamental principle on which the canon and civil laws are
based, as well as the English classics. It is only in the galleries of art that we
see the foreshadowing of the good time coming. There the divine artist
represents the virtues, the graces, the sciences, the seasons, day with its
glorious dawn, and night with its holy mysteries, all radiant and beautiful in
the form of woman. The poet, the artist, the novelist of our own day, are
more hopeful prophets for the mother of the race than those who have
spoken in the Scriptures.

E. C. S.

Deuteronomy xvii.

1 Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock or sheep,
wherein is blemish, or any evil favouredness: for that is an abomination
unto the Lord thy God.

2 If there be found among you, man or woman that hath wrought
wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant:

3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the
sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not
commanded;

4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently,
and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is
wrought in Israel:

5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman unto thy gates and
shalt stone them with stones, till they die.

This is certainly a very effective way of strengthening religious faith.
Most people would assent to any religious dogma, however absurd, rather
than be stoned to death. As all their healthy tender lambs and calves were
eaten by the priests and rulers, no wonder they were so particular to get the
best. To delude the people it was necessary to give a religious complexion
to the sacrifices and to make God command the people to bring their
choicest fruits and grains and meats. It was very easy for these
accomplished prestidigitators to substitute the offal for sacrifices on their
altars, and keep the dainty fruits and meats for themselves, luxuries for their
own tables.

The people have always been deluded with the idea that what they gave
to the church and the priesthood was given unto the Lord, as if the Maker of
the universe needed anything at our hands. How incongruous the idea of an
Infinite being who made all the planets and the inhabitants thereof
commanding his creatures to kill and burn animals for offerings to him. It is
truly pitiful to see the deceptions that have been played upon the people in
all ages and countries by the priests in the name of religion. They are
omnipresent, ever playing on human credulity, at birth and death, in
affliction and at the marriage feast, in the saddest and happiest moments of
our lives they are near to administer consolation in our sorrows, and to add
blessings to our joys. No other class of teachers have such prestige and
power, especially over woman.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER IV.

Deuteronomy xviii.

9 When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,
thou shalt not learn the abominations of those nations.

10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or
his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer
of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a
necromancer,

12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord.

One would think that Moses with his rod taking the children of Israel
through the Red Sea, bringing water out of a rock and manna from heaven,
going up into a mountain and there surrounding himself with a cloud of
smoke, sending out all manner of pyrotechnics, thunder and lightning, and
deluding the people into the idea that there he met and talked with Jehovah,

should have been more merciful in his judgments of all witches,
necromancers and soothsayers. One would think witches, charmers and
necromancers possessing the same power and manifesting many of the
same wonders that he did, should not have been so severely punished for
their delusions. Moses had taught them to believe in miracles. When the
human mind is led to believe things outside the realm of known law, it is
prepared to accept all manner of absurdities. And yet the same people that
ridicule Spiritualism, Theosophy and Psychology, believe in the ten plagues
of Egypt and the passage of the children of Israel through the Red Sea. If
they did go through, it was when the tide was low at that point, which
Moses understood and Pharaoh did not. Perhaps the difficulty is to be
gotten over in much the same way as that employed by the negro preacher
who, when his statement, that the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea on
the ice, was questioned on the ground that geography showed that the
climate there was too warm for the formation of ice, replied: "Why, this
happened before there was any geography!" The Jews, as well as the
surrounding nations, were dominated by all manner of supernatural ideas.
All these uncanny tricks and delusions being forbidden shows that they
were extensively practised by the chosen people, as well as by other
nations.

Deuteronomy xx, xxi.

14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the
city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt
eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.

15 When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy
God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,

11 And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire
unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;

12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her
head, and pare her nails;

13 And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall
remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month:
and after that she shall be thy wife.

14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her
go whither she will: but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt
not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.

15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they
have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn
son be hers that was hated:

16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his son to inherit that which he hath,
that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the
hated, which is indeed the firstborn:

17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by
giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his
strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

All this is done if the woman will renounce her religion and accept the
new faith. The shaving of the head was a rite in accepting the new faith, the
paring of the nails a token of submission. In all these transactions the

woman had no fixed rights whatever. In that word "humbled" is included
the whole of our false morality in regard to the equal relations of the sexes.
Why in this responsible act of creation, on which depends life and
immortality, woman is said to be humbled, when she is the prime factor in
the relation, is a question difficult to answer, except in her general
degradation, carried off without her consent as spoils of war, subject to the
fancy of any man, to be taken or cast off at his pleasure, no matter what is
done with her. Her sons must be carefully guarded and the rights of the
first-born fully recognized. The man is of more value than the mother in the
scale of being whatever her graces and virtues may be. If these Jewish ideas
were obsolete they might not be worth our attention, but our creeds and
codes are still tinged with the Mosaic laws and customs. The English law of
primogeniture has its foundation in the above text. The position of the wife
under the old common law has the same origin.

When Bishop Colenso went as a missionary to Zululand, the horror with
which the most devout and intelligent of the natives questioned the truth of
the Pentateuch confirmed his own doubts of the records. Translating with
the help of a Zulu scholar he was deeply impressed with his revulsion of
feeling at the following passage: "If a man smite his servant, or his maid,
with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall be surely punished.
Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for
he is his money." Exodus xxi: 20, 2 1. "I shall never forget," says the
Bishop, "the revulsion of feeling, with which a very intelligent Christian
native, with whose help I was translating these last words into the Zulu
tongue, first heard them as words said to be uttered by the same great and
gracious Being, whom I was teaching him to trust in and adore. His whole
soul revolted against the notion, that the Great and Blessed God, the
Merciful Father of all mankind, would speak of a servant or maid as mere
'money,' and allow a horrible crime to go unpunished, because the victim of
the brutal usage had survived a few hours!"

Though they had no Pentateuch nor knowledge of our religion, their
respect for the mother of the race and their recognition of the feminine
element in the Godhead, as shown in the following beautiful prayer, might
teach our Bishops, Priests and Levites a lesson they have all yet to learn.

EVENING PRAYER.

"O God, Thou hast let me pass the day in peace: let me pass the night in
peace, O Lord, who hast no Lord! There is no strength but in Thee: Thou
alone hast no obligation. Under Thy hand I pass the day! under Thy hand I
pass the night! Thou art my Mother, Thou my Father!"

Placing the mother first shows they were taught by Nature that she was
the prime factor in their existence. In the whole Bible and the Christian
religion man is made the alpha and omega everywhere in the state, the
church and the home. And we see the result in the general contempt for the
sex expressed freely in our literature, in the halls of legislation, in church
convocations and by leading Bishops wherever they have opportunities for
speech and whenever they are welcomed in the popular magazines of the
day.

E. C. S.

CHAPTER V.

Deuteronomy xxiv.

1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass
that she find no favour in his eyes, then let him write her a bill of
divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another
man's wife.

3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement,
and giveth it in her hand and sendeth her out of his house: or if the latter
husband die, which took her to be his wife;

4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be
his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord:
and thou shalt not cause the land to sin which the Lord thy God giveth thee
for an inheritance.

5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither
shalt he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year,
and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.

All the privileges accorded man alone, are based on the principle that
women have no causes for divorce. If they had equal rights in law and
public sentiment, a large number of cruel, whiskey drinking and profane
husbands, would be sued for divorce before wives endured one year of such
gross companionship.

There is a good suggestion in the text, that when a man takes a new wife
he shall stay at home at least one year to cheer and comfort her. If they
propose to have children, the responsible duties of parents should be
equally shared as far as possible. In a busy commercial life, fathers have but
little time to guard their children against the temptations of life, or to
prepare them for its struggles, and the mother educated to believe that she
has no rights or duties in public affairs, can give no lessons on political
morality from her standpoint. Hence the home is in a condition of half
orphanage for the want of fathers, and the State suffers for need of wise
mothers.

It was customary among the Jews to dedicate a new house, a vineyard
just planted, or a betrothed wife to the Lord with prayer and thanksgiving,
before going forth to public duties. This idea is enforced in several different
chapters, impressing on men with families that there are periods in their
lives when "their sphere is home" their primal duty to look after the wife,
the house and the vineyard.

Deuteronomy xxv.

5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the
wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's
brother shall take her to wire.

6 And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the
name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.

7 And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's
wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, my husband's brother
refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform
the duty of my husband's brother.

8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if she
stand to it, and say, I like not to take her:

9 Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the
elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot.

I would recommend these texts to the consideration of the Bishops in the
English House of Lords. If a man may marry a deceased brother's wife, why
not a deceased wife's sister? English statesmanship has struggled with this
problem for generations, and the same old platitudes against the deceased
wife's sister's bill are made to do duty annually in Parliament.

Deuteronomy xxviii.

56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not
adventure to set the sole of her foot upon ground for delicateness and
tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward her husband of her bosom, and

toward her son, and toward her daughter, and toward her children which she
shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege
and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.

64 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and
the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

68 And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way
whereof I spake unto thee, thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye
shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man
shall buy you.

This is addressed to men as most of the injunctions are, as to their
treatment of woman in general. In enumerating the good things that would
come to Israel if the commandments were obeyed, nothing is promised to
women, but when the curses are distributed, woman comes in for her share.
Similar treatment is accorded the daughters of Eve in modern days. She is
given equal privileges with man, in being imprisoned and hung, but unlike
him she has no voice in the laws, the judge, the jury, nor the manner of exit
to the unknown land. She is denied the right of trial by her own peers; the
laws are made by men, the courts are filled with men; the judge, the
advocates, the jurors, all men!

Moses follows the usual ancient idea that in the creation of human life,
man is the important factor. The child is his fruit, he is the soul. The spirit
the vital spark. The woman merely the earth that warms and nourishes the
seed, the earthly environment. This unscientific idea still holds among
people ignorant of physiology and psychology. This notion chimes in with
the popular view of woman's secondary place in the world, and so is
accepted as law and gospel. The word "beget" applied only to men in

Scripture is additional enforcement of the idea that the creative act belongs
to him alone. This is flattering to male egoism and is readily accepted.

E. C. S.

In the early chapters of this book Moses' praises of Hebrew valor in
marching into a land already occupied and utterly destroying men, women
and children, seems much like the rejoicing of those who believe in
exterminating the aboriginees in America. Evidently Moses believed in the
survival of the fittest and that his own people were the fittest. He teaches
the necessity of exclusiveness, that the hereditary traits of the people may
not be lost by intermarriage. Though the Israelites, like the Puritans, had
notable foremothers as well as forefathers, yet it was not the custom to
mention them. Perhaps the word fathers meant both, as the word man in
Scripture often includes woman. In the preface by Lord Bishop Ely, to what
is popularly known as the Speaker's Bible, the remark is made that "whilst
the Word of God is one, and does not change, it must touch at new points
the changing phases of physical, philological and historical knowledge, and
so the comments that suit one generation are felt by another to be obsolete."
So, also, it is that with the higher education of women, their wider
opportunities and the increasing sense of justice, many interpretations of the
Bible are felt to be obsolete, hence the same reason exists for the Woman's
Commentary, which is already popularly known as the Woman's Bible.

Deuteronomy is a name derived from the Greek and signifies that this is
the second or duplicate law, because this, the last book of the Pentateuch,
consists partly in a restatement of the law, as already given in other books.
Deuteronomy contains also, besides special commands and advice not
previously written, an account of the death of Moses. Johnson's Universal

Cyclopedia states that "the authority of this book has been traditionally
assigned to Moses, but, of course, the part relating to his death is not
supposed to be written by himself, and indeed the last four chapters may
have been added by another hand." DeWette declares that Moses could not
have been the author. He not only points to the closing chapters as
containing proof, but he refers to the anachronisms in earlier chapters, and
insists that the general manner in which the Mosaic history is treated
belongs to a period after the time of Moses. And Rev. John White Chadwick
in his "Bible of To-day" declares that "Prophetism created Deuteronomy."
He speaks of Malachi, the last of the Prophets, as the first to mention the
Mosaic law, and says that in the eighth century before Christ there was no
Mosaic law in any modern sense. The Pentateuch in anything like its
present form was still far in the future. Deuteronomy more than a hundred
years ahead. Leviticus and Numbers nearly three hundred. * * * The book
of Deuteronomy was much more of a manufacture than any previous
portion of the Pentateuch. * * * Not Sinai and Wilderness, but Babylon and
Jerusalem, witnessed the promulgation of the Levitical law. Its priest was
Ezra and not Aaron; but who was its Moses the most patient study is not
likely ever to reveal. The roar of Babylon does not give up its dead. It
would seem as if the Rev. Dr. George Lansing Taylor shared some of these
ideas when, in his poem at the centennial of Columbia College, he said:

"Great Ezra, Artaxerxes' courtly scholar—
Doctor, ere old Bologna gave that collar,
A ready scribe in all the laws of heaven,
From Babylon ascends, to Zion given,
Armed with imperial power and proclamation,
To rear God's house and educate a nation.

As editor for God, the first in story,
He crowns the editorial chair with glory.
Inspired to push Jehovah's mighty plan on
He lays its corner-stone, the Bible canon.
His Bible college, Bible publication,
Convert the city, crown the Restoration,
And fix the beacon date for History's pages
The chronologic milestone of the ages."

This chapter of Deuteronomy in the solemnity and explicitness of its
blessing and cursings must produce a deep impression on those who are
desirous of pursuing a course which would promote personal and national
prosperity. Reading chapter xix and remembering the history of the Jews
from Moses to this day I reverently acknowledge the sure word of prophecy
therein recorded. Chapter xxx also has high literary merit. Its euphony is in
accordance with its solemn but encouraging warnings and promises. It
touches the connection divinely ordained and eternally existing between life
and goodness, death and sin, emphasizing the apostolic injunction, "cease to
do evil, learn to do well." This chapter, giving the last directions of Moses
and intimations of his departure from earth, is one of deep interest. How the
Lord communicated to him that his end approached does not appear, but
deeply impressed with the belief, he naturally called together Joshua and
the Levites and gave his final charge. Whether fact or fiction this farewell is
deeply interesting. The closing chapters, containing the "song of blessing,"
comes to all lovers of religious poetry as the swan song of Moses. Though
doubting its authorship, one may enjoy its beauty and grandeur. Chapter
xxxiv narrates the death of Moses:

"By Nebo's lonely mountain,
On this side Jordan's wave."

It tells briefly the mourning of the children of Israel over their great
leader's departure and affirms the appointment of Joshua, the son of Nun, as
his successor, and fitly closes the valuable collection of writings called the
Pentateuch.

Since I have proposeed the elimination of some of the coarser portions of
Deuteronomy, I wish to add the testimony of Stevens in his "Scripture
Speculations," as to the general morality of this ancient code. "Barbarous as
they were in many things, childish in more, their laws are as much in
advance of them as of their contemporaries,—were even singular for
humanity in that age, and not always equaled in ours. We forget that there
were contemporary nations which justified stealing, authorised infanticide,
legalized the murder of aged parents, associated lust with worship. None of
these blots can be traced on the Jewish escutcheon. By preventing
imprisonment for debt, Moses anticipated the latest discovery of modern
philanthropy. * * * Even the mercy of Christianity was foreshadowed in his
provision for the poor, who were never to cease out of the land; the
prospered were to lend without interest, and never to harden their heart
against a brother. The hovel of the poor was a sanctuary, and many a minute
safeguard like the return of the debtor's garment at nightfall, to save him
from suffering during the chilliness of the night, has waited to be brought to
light by our more perfect knowledge of Jewish customs." But that the
Scriptures, rightly interpreted, do not teach the equality of the sexes, I must
be permitted to doubt. We who love the Old and New Testaments take
"Truth for authority, and not authority for truth," as did our sainted Lucretia
Mott, whose earnest appeals for liberty were often jewelled, as were Daniel
Webster's most eloquent speeches, with some texts from the old Hebrew
Bible.

P. A. H.

CHAPTER VI.
THE PENTATEUCH.

The primal requisite for the more accurate understanding of the Bible is its
translation from the past to the present tense. It has been studied as history,
as the record of a remote past whose truth it has been well-nigh impossible
to verify. It should be studied as a record of the present, the present
experience of the individual and the race which is to ultimate in the perfect
actualization of generic possibilities.

Like the tables of stone the Bible is written on both sides; or it has a letter
which is its exterior and an interior spirit or meaning. The history which
constitutes its letter illustrates those principles which constitute its meaning.
The formless must be put into form to be apprehended. Mistaking the form
for that substance which has been brought to the level of human
apprehension by its means, is the error which constitutes the basis of
dogmatic theology. Error in a premise compels error in conclusions. It is no
wonder that woman's true relation to man and just position in the social
fabric has remained unknown. A Moses on Pisgah's height is needed to-day
to see and declare this promised land; and he must be revelator, first, to

women themselves, for they especially need enlightenment upon the true
nature of the Bible.

So long as they mistake superstition for religious revelation, they will be
content with the position and opportunities assigned them by scholastic
theology. They will remember and "keep their place" as thus defined. Their
religious nature is warped and twisted through generations of
denominational conservatism; which fact, by the way, is the greatest
stumbling block in the path of equal suffrage to-day, and one to which the
leaders of that movement have seemed unaccountably blind.

Thus woman's strongest foes have been of her own sex; and because her
sense of duty and religious sentiment have been operative according to a
false ideal, unintentionally women have been and will continue to be
bigoted until they allow a higher ideal to penetrate their minds; until they
see with the eye of reason and logic, as well as with the sentiment which
has so long kept them the dependent class. The Bible from beginning to end
teaches the equality of man and woman, their relation as the two halves of
the unit, but also their distinctiveness in office. One cannot take the place of
the other because of the fundamental nature of each. The work of each half
in its own place is necessary to the perfect whole.

The man has more prominence than the woman in the Bible because the
masculine characters in their succession represent man as a whole—
generic man. The exterior or male half is outermost, the interior or female
half is covered by the outer. One is seen, the other has to be discerned, and
can be discerned by following the harmonious relativity between the two
halves of the unit. There is a straight line of ascent from the Adam to the
Christ, within which is the straight line of ascent from the Eve to the Mary.
The book of Genesis is the substance of the whole Bible, its meaning is the
key to the meaning of the whole; it is the skeleton around which the rest is

builded. If the remainder of the Old Testament were destroyed its substance
could be reconstructed from Genesis. As the bony structure of the physical
body is the framework which is filled in and rounded to symmetrical
proportions by the muscular tissue, so Genesis is the framework which is
symmetrically rounded and filled by the other books, which supply the
necessary detail involved in basic principles.

The first chapter of Genesis is not the record of the creation of the world.
It is a symbolical description of the composite nature of man, that being
which is male and female in one. The personal pronoun "He" belongs to his
exterior nature; and the characters which illustrate this nature and the order
of its development are men. The pronoun "She" belongs to the interior
nature, and all characters—fewer in number— which illustrate it, are
women. "Male and female created he them." The second chapter describes
the nature and origin of the visible world, the nature and origin of the soul,
their relation to each other and to this dual being. With the third chapter
begins the symbolical illustration of the soul's existence—of its continuity
of existence which is unbroken till its highest possibilities are actualized,
till all the inherent capabilities of the dual being are fully manifested.

The leading characters of Genesis—Adam, Enos, Noah, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob and Joseph—seven in number, represent the seven chief stages of the
soul's existence which follow each other like the notes in the musical scale.
It is our own experience that is there portrayed, both present and
prospective. What we as individuals, and nations are now going through in
our efforts for betterment, is told in the story of Genesis. More than this, the
clue to assured betterment is found there also. This experience is on two
lines which are always distinct but never separate—the male and the
female. These are indissolubly bound together "from the beginning," the
same principles, necessitating the same moral standards and spiritual ideals,
and governing both. The largest measure of our individual and national

perplexities and sufferings has come from the ignorant straining apart of
that which "God hath joined together" and which we can not successfully
and permanently "put asunder."

The remaining four books of the Pentateuch, supply the detail beginning
between the Adam and Noah of Genesis, rounding out that part of the
skeleton. The Exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses, represents
the soul's growth out of purely sense-consciousness by the help of spiritual
perception. Moses is the personification of this faculty inherent in and
operative from the eternal ego, the dual being, which is "the Lord" of the
Bible. The Old Testament presents the outer or masculine nature of this
"Lord" as the Jehovah. The New Testament presents the inner or feminine
nature as the Virgin.

The children of Israel according to their tribes, represent the ranging
characteristics or parts which make up the soul of self- consciousness. They
are the "chosen people" because when the soul sees with its spiritual insight
as well as with its sensuous outsight, it can, if it will, choose between the
two as guides. Their experiences in the wilderness are what we are passing
through to-day; for there is now a people who have made this choice and
are following the higher leader in their work for the human race, which is
the only satisfactory way of working for themselves. But this leader—
spiritual perception—cannot put the soul in possession of its promised land
—a higher state of existence or quality of self-consciousness. It sees the
higher and leads in its direction; but understanding of fundamental,
therefore unvarying and always applicable, principles is necessary for that
realization which Is the attainment of the higher, or its possession.

Moses' death before crossing Jordan illustrates this limitation, which is
also the limitation of earnest reformers to-day. They can see for us and point

out that which awaits them; but they can never take those others "into the
land." They must travel on their own feet.

Joshua, as the leader after Moses, is the personification of this
understanding. He is Moses' sepulchre, for Moses is buried in him. Spiritual
insight develops understanding which is its continuity. Hence the
continuation of experiences under Joshua the "Saviour" through whom the
soul takes "possession" of its higher state. In the "wilderness" of transition
from the old to the new, mistakes occur which mar their consequences. In
this illustration of the Pentateuch, Miriam "speaks against" Moses, is
stricken with leprosy and "set without the camp," and the people cannot
journey till all is "brought in again."

Woman's intellectual development after ages of repression, has resulted
with many of the sex, in an agnosticism which, at first liberal, has grown to
be a dogmatic materialism. She "speaks against" spiritual insight and its
revelations. In forsaking her dogmas and creeds she has forsaken religion.
She is to be "brought in again"— brought to see that religion is of the soul
and is individual; while dogma and doctrine are from the sensuous out-side
alone. The one tends to true freedom, the other generates bondage. Broadly,
women of to-day are of two classes; those who are still held by the
conservatism of creeds, and those who have gone to the other extreme
through the exhilaration of intellectual activity. Both classes must meet
upon a common ground, recognition of fundamental principles and effort to
apply them—before the New Testament can become the practical ethical
standard.

An outline of a subject so vast and profound as the nature and meaning of
the Pentateuch, must necessarily be more or less unsatisfactory. It cannot be
detached from the rest of the Bible which is a complete organic body. Its
meaning is consecutive and harmonious with first premises, from beginning

to end. The obvious inconsistencies and absurdities involve only its letter,
which may or may not be true as history without affecting the truth of the
book itself which lies in its meaning.

The projectors of "The Woman's Bible" must not avoid the whirlpool of a
masculine Bible only, to split upon the rock of a feminine Bible alone. This
would be an attempt to separate what is intensely joined together and defeat
the end desired. The book is the soul's guide in the fulfilling of its destiny—
that destiny which is involved in its origin; and the soul, in sleep, is sexless.
Its faculties and powers are differentiated are masculine and feminine.

If the question is asked—"What is your authority for this view of the
Bible?" the answer is "I have none but the internal evidence of the book
itself. When joined it is self-evident truth, requiring no external authority to
give it support."

U. N. G.

APPENDIX.

As the Revising Committee refer to a woman's translation of the Bible as
their ultimate authority, for the Greek, Latin and Hebrew text, a brief notice
of this distinguished scholar is important:

Julia Smith's translation of the Bible stands out unique among all
translations. It is the only one ever made by a woman, and the only one, it
appears, ever made by man or woman without help. Wyclif, "the morning
star of the Reformation," made a translation from the Vulgate, assisted by
Nicholas of Hereford. He was not sufficiently familiar with Hebrew and
Greek to translate from those tongues. Coverdale's translation was not done
alone. In his dedication to the king he says he has humbly followed his
interpreters and that under correction. Tyndale, in his translation, had the
assistance of Frye, of William Roye, and also of Miles Coverdale. Julia
Smith translated the whole Bible absolutely alone, without consultation
with any one. And this not once, but five times—twice from the Hebrew,
twice from the Greek and once from the Latin. Literalness was one end she
kept constantly in view, though this does not work so well with the Hebrew
tenses. But she did not mind that. Frequently her wording is an
improvement, or brings one closer to the original than the common
translation. Thus in I. Corinthians viii, 1, of the King James translation, we
have: "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." Julia Smith version:
"Knowledge puffs up and love builds the house." She uses "love" in place
of "charity" every time. And her translation was made nearly forty years
before the revised version of our day, which also does the same. Tyndale, in
his translation nearly three hundred and seventy-five years ago, made the
same translation of this word; but Julia Smith did not know that and never
saw his translation. This word "charity" was one of the words that Sir
Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, charged Tyndale with
mistranslating. The other two words were "priest" and "church," Tyndale
calling priests "seniors," and church, "congregation." Both Julia Smith and
the revised version call them priests and church. And he gives the word,
"Life" for "Eve" "And Adam will call his wife's name Life, for she was the
mother of all living."

One more illustration: "Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea
in the days of Herod the king, behold there came wise men from the east to
Jerusalem." King James translation. "Now when Jesus was born, etc.,
behold there came wise men from the sunrisings to Jerusalem." Julia Smith
version. She claims to have made a perfectly literal translation, and
according to the verdict of competent authorities, Hebrew scholars who
have examined her Bible, she has done so. Her work has had the
endorsement of various learned men. A Hebrew professor of Harvard
College (Prof. Young) called on her soon after her Bible was issued and
examined it. He was much astonished that she had translated o correctly
without consulting some learned man. He expressed surprise that she should
have put the tenses as she did. She said to him: "You acknowledge that I
have translated according to the Hebrew idiom?" He replied: "O yes, you
have translated literally." That was just what she aimed at, to get an exact
literal translation, without regard to smoothness. She received many letters
from scholars, all speaking of the exact, or literal translation. Some people
have criticised this feature, which is the great merit of the book.

Julia Smith was led to make the translation at the time of the Miller
excitement in 1843, when the world was to come to a sudden termination;
when the saints were preparing their robes for ascension into the empyrean,
and wicked unbelievers (the vast majority) were to descend as far the other
way. She and her family were much interested in Miller's predictions, and
she was anxious to see for herself if, in the original Hebrew text of the
Bible there was any warrant for Miller's predictions. So she set to work and
studied Hebrew, having previously translated the New Testament, and also
the Septuagint from the Greek. So absorbed did she become in her work
that the dinner bell was unheeded, and she would undoubtedly have many
times gone to bed both dinnerless and supperless had not the family called
her off from her work. Once a. week she met with the family and a friend
and neighbor, Miss Emily Moseley, to read over and discuss what she had

translated during the week. This practice was kept up for several years.
When she came to publish the work, (the manuscripts of which had lain in
the garret some twenty-five or thirty years) the cashier of the Hartford bank,
where the sisters had kept their money, told her she was very foolish to
throw away her money printing this Bible; that she would never sell a copy.
She told him it didn't matter whether she did or not; that she was not doing
it to make money; that she found more satisfaction in spending her money
in this way than in spending it all on dress. Thanks to our more enlightened
age, this translation did not meet with the opposition the early translators
had to contend with. The scholars of those days thought learning should be
confined to a select few; it was, in their view, dangerous to put the Bible
into a language the common people could understand, especially women.
Here is what one Henry de Knyghton, a learned monk of that day, said:
"This Master John Wiclif hath translated the gospel out of Latin into
English, which Christ had intrusted with the clergy and doctors of the
Church that they might minister it to the laity and weaker sort, according to
the state of the times and the wants of men. But now the gospel is made
vulgar and more open to the laity, and even to women who can read, than it
used to be to the most learned of the clergy and those of the best
understanding." To say nothing of reading the Bible, what would this
learned man have thought of a woman translating it, and five times at that!
It would seem as if the bare suggestion must have stirred his dry bones with
indignation.

King James appointed fifty-four men of learning to translate the Bible.
Seven of them died and forty-seven carried the work on. Compare this
corps of workers with one little woman performing the Herculean task with
without one suggestion or word of advice from mortal man! This Bible is
ten by seven inches, and is printed in large, clear type. There are two styles
of binding, cloth and sheepskin. The cloth binding was $2.50 at the time it
was issued and while Julia Smith lived, and the other was $3.00, but as they

are getting scarcer the price may have gone up. They will be a rarity in the
next century and will be much sought after by bibliomaniacs, to say nothing
of scholars who will want it for its real value. Julia Smith had the plates of
her Bible preserved, but where they are now is more than I know. It was
published by the American Publishing Company, of Hartford, in 1876.

Julia Evelina Smith, of Glastonbury, Conn., was one of five sisters of a
somewhat notable family, the father and mother both having strong traits of
character and marked individuality. The mother, Hannah Hickok, was a fine
linguist and mathematician. She once made an almanac for her own
convenience, almanacs being rather scarce in those days. She could tell the
time of night whenever she happened to awake by the position of the stars.
She was an omnivorous reader and a great student, and in those days before
the invention of stoves, her father, in order to allow her the requisite
retirement to gratify her studious tastes, built her a small glass room. In the
days of the Abby and Julia Smith excitement, when they refused to pay
their taxes, some writer was so wicked as to say that Julia Smith's
grandfather shut her mother up in a glass cage. Seated in this glass
enclosure, placed in a south room, with the sun's rays beating down upon
her, as upon a plant in a conservatory, she could pursue her studies to her
heart's content. She was an only child and adored by her father; and so
much did she think of him that in his last illness, when she was away at
school, she rode four hundred miles on horseback in order to see him before
he died.

Julia Smith's father, the Rev. Zephaniah H. Smith, a graduate of Yale, was
settled in Newtown, Conn., near South Britain, where he married Hannah
Hickok. He preached but four years, resigning his position on the ground
that the gospel should be free; that it was wrong to preach for money—
ideas promulgated by the Sandemanians of those days, the followers of
Robert Sandeman, a Scotchman, who organized the sect in England and in

this country, it having originated with his father-in- law, John Glas, the sect
being called either Glassites or Sandemanians, the former being given the
preference in Scotland and England. The ideas of these people were
followed out by the Smith family, and at Abby and Julia Smith's funeral, as
at the funerals of those who had gone before them, there was no officiating
minister and no services. Simply a chapter of the Bible was read, and one or
two who wished, made remarks. On a fly-leaf of the Bible Julia Smith read
every day was written the request that she should be buried by her sisters in
Glastonbury, and with no name on the tombstone but that of her own
maiden name. This request was followed out. The names of the Smith
sisters are so unique, and inasmuch as they have never been known to be
printed correctly, it may not be out of place to give them here, preceding
them by those of their parents, making a short family record for future
reference:

Zephaniah H. Smith, born August 19, 1758. Died February 1, 1836.

Hannah Hickok, born August 7, 1767. Died December 27, 1850

They were married May 31, 1756.

DAUGHTERS OF THE ABOVE

Hancy Zephina, born March 16, 1787. Died June 30, 1871.

Cyrinthia Sacretia, born May 18, 1788. Died August 19, 1864.

Laurilla Aleroyla, born November 26, 1789. Died March 19, 1857.

Julia Evelina, born May 27, 1792. Died March 6, 1886.

Abby Hadassah, born June 1, 1797. Died July 23, 1878.

Julia was educated at Mrs. Emma Willard's far-famed seminary at Troy,
New York. Abby, the youngest of the family, was the one who added to their
fame, when, in November, 1873, at a town meeting in Glastonbury, she
delivered a speech against taxation without representation. She had just
attended the first Woman's Congress in New York, and on her way back
said she was going to make a speech on taxation; that she should apply to
the authorites {sic} to speak in town hall on town meeting day. She and
Julia owned considerable property in Glastonbury and their taxes were
being increased while those of their neighbors (men) were not. She applied
to the authorities, but they would not let her speak in the hall, so she spoke
from a wagon outside to a crowd of people. This speech was printed in a
Hartford paper (the Courant) and was copied all over the country, and the
cry: "Abby Smith and her cows" was caught up everywhere. Abby Smith's
quaint, simple speeches attracted attention, and the sale of the cows at the
sign-post aroused sympathy, and from that time on their fame grew apace.
The hitherto light mail- bags of Glastonbury came loaded with mail matter
from all quarters for the Smith sisters. And this continued for some years, or
till the death of Abby in 1878, which was followed by the marriage of Julia
the following spring, and the discontinuance of the sale of the cows at the
public sign-post. She married Mr. Amos A. Parker, both being eighty- seven
years of age. Julia Smith sold the old family mansion in Glastonbury and
bought a house at Parkville, Hartford. She died there in 1886 and her
husband died in 1893, nearly one hundred and two years of age.

F. E. B.

Advertisements from original, Vol. 1

EIGHTY YEARS AND MORE
BEING THE REMINISCENCES OF

ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.

(1815-1897.)

This new work by our distinguished countrywoman is a 12mo of 475 pp.,
complete in one volume, cloth bound, with eleven portraits. Price $2.00.

I Dedicate This Volume To

Susan B. Anthony,

My Steadfast Friend For Half A Century.

CONTENTS.
Chapter.

I.

Childhood.

II.

School Days.

III.

Girlhood.

IV.

Life at Peterboro.

V.

Our Wedding journey.

VI.

Homeward Bound.

VII.

Motherhood.

VIII.

Boston and Chelsea.

IX.

The First Woman's Rights Convention.

X.

Susan B. Anthony.

XI.

Susan B. Anthony (Continued).

XII.

My First Speech Before a Legislature.

XIII.

Reforms and Mobs.

XIV.

Views on Marriage and Divorce.

XV.

Women as Patriots.

XVI.

Pioneer Life in Kansas—Our Newspaper, "The Revolution."

XVII.

Lyceums and Lecturers.

XVIII.

Westward Ho!

XIX.

The Spirit Of '76.

XX.

Writing "The History of Woman Suffrage."

XXI.

In the South of France.

XXII.

Reforms and Reformers in Great Britain.

XXIII.

Woman and Theology.

XXIV.

England and France Revisited.

XXV.

The International Council of Women.

XXVI.

My Last Visit to England.

XXVII.

Sixtieth Anniversary of the Class of 1832—The Woman's Bible.

XXVIII.

My Eightieth Birthday.

PREFACE

The interest my family and friends have always manifested in the narration
of my early and varied experiences, and their earnest desire to have them in
permanent form for the amusement of another generation, moved me to
publish this volume. I am fully aware that its contents have no especial
artistic merit, being composed partly of extracts from my diary, a few hasty
sketches of my travels and people I have met, and of my opinions on many
social questions.

The story of my private life as the wife of an earnest reformer, as an
enthusiastic housekeeper, proud of my skill in every department of domestic

economy, and as the mother of seven children., may amuse and benefit the
reader.

The incidents of my public career as a leader in the most momentous
reform yet launched upon the world—the emancipation of woman—will be
found in "The History of Woman Suffrage."

New York City, September, 1897 Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Mrs. Stanton in this book, in her inimitable way, relates anecdotes of, and
experiences with, a number of the leading women, statesmen, authors, and
reformers of the last sixty years. The following are a few names selected at
random from the

INDEX OF NAMES.

Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward.
Bradlaugh, Hon. Charles, M. P.
Bright, Hon. Jacob M. P.
Bright, Hon. John, M. P.
Browning, Robert.
Bryant, William Cullen.
Curtis, George William.
Cobbe, Frances Power.
Clarkson, Thomas.
Charming, Rev. William Ellery.
Carlisle, Lord and Lady.
Byron, Lady.
Cushman, Charlotte.
Dana, Charles A.
Douglass, Frederick.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo.
Fry, Elizabeth.
Fuller, Margaret.
Garrison, William Lloyd.
George, Henry.
Grant, General Ulysses S
Greeley, Horace.
Grevy, President Jules.
Holmes, Oliver Wendell.
Hyacinthe, Pere.
Ingersoll, Robert G.
Kingsley, Canon Charles.
Krapotkine, Prince.
Lowell, James Russell.
Martineau, Harriet.
Mill, John Stuart.
Mott, Lucretia.
O'Connell, Daniel.
Owen, Robert Dale.
Parker, Rev. Theodore.
Parnell, Hon. Charles Stuart, M. P.
Phillips, Wendell.
Seward, Governor William H.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe.
Smith, Hon. Gerrit.
Stanton, Hon. Henry B.
Stepniak.
Stone, Lucy.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher.
Sumner, Hon. Charles.

Whittier, John G.
Willard, Emma.
Willard, Frances E.

See Press Comments on following pages.

This book will be sent, mail prepaid, on receipt of price, by

European Publishing Company,

W Broad Street, New York City.

PRESS COMMENTS.

It is a very readable book.—Albany Times-Union.

The Reminiscences are delightful.—The Louisville Dispatch.

The tale is as interesting as any romance or drama.—N. Y. Mail and
Express.

A bright, entertaining tale, and one which contains much valuable
information.—N. Y. Herald.

We know of no other autobiography which will command more profound
interest.—The Rocky Mountain News.

It is the life story of a genuine American woman and will excite wide
interest.—The Minneapolis Tribune.

A breezy narrative of a long and active life, told with spirit and humor.—
The Woman's Journal.

Every sentence in this book would serve as a text for a chapter were
merited amplification practicable.—Ithaca Journal.

The book is illustrated with a number of excellent portraits of the author,
and is full of interest.—New London Day.

A well written account of a long and busy life. A highly interesting
biography and a delightful book, which is well worth reading.—N. Y.
Evening World.

A human document of no small interest and value. A straightforward and
piquant story of a noteworthy personality.—The Chicago Tribune.

A combination of several kinds of charm. It is frankly personal. It is
impossible not to wish there had been very much more of each chapter. —
N. Y. Evening Sun.

It is unexpectedly amusing, as well as instructive, some of the author's
experiences being narrated in a most realistic and delightful manner.—
Washington Post.

Two chapters of this interesting autobiography are devoted to Miss
Susan B. Anthony, the friend and fellow-laborer in the field of Woman's
Rights with Mrs. Stanton.—Jeannette L. Gilder in N. Y. Sunday Journal.

It is a book well worth reading and shows what one woman may do with
a purpose and a will back of it. The personal part of the Reminiscences are
of much interest, and force admiration for the tactful, courageous and able
woman.—Pittsburg Post.

It is one of the most important books of the year, Particularly to the
women of this country. It is absorbingly interesting. The trouble that the
reader encounters is that he finds it hard work to lay the book down.—
Boston Daily Advertiser.

The story of the life of this great American woman will be read with
much interest in many homes. It is a book of much artistic merit and her
Reminiscences cannot be other than interesting. The book throughout is
delightfully entertaining—Troy Times.

A most charming and interesting picture of a wife, mother and a friend.
Every one who has seen or heard of this leader of the woman question of
the century will rejoice that such a book has been given to the world.—
Boston Investigator.

It is not principally the record of her public career as a leader in the
movement for the emancipation of woman, but rather the story of her
private life which is set forth in this volume. Especially interesting are those
reminiscences that deal with the author's early days.—N. Y. Sun.

This book abounds in interesting experiences. The style is simple and
amusing, showing the writer possessed of a keen sense of humor and the
fitness of things, as well as justice. It is particularly interesting to women
whether they sympathize with the views of the writer or otherwise.—
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable book and never lacking in interest. It will
be an inspiration for American girls to read its chapters. She gives graphic
pictures. The volume contains several fine portraits. The book is racy and
pleasing, whether the reader agrees with the author in all things or not.—
Chicago Inter-Ocean.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton's recollections, covering eighty years, easily
come first in the array of new noteworthy books, because of the surprise
they will afford the public, having been almost unheralded; because of the
impressive and protracted public career of the author; because of her
inflexible devotion to and sincerity in a cause long unpopular, and because,
moreover, Mrs. Stanton is an American. This is a most interesting volume.
—N. Y. Times.

Eighty Years and More.

Being the Reminiscences of ELIZABETH CADY STANTON. Complete
In one volume. 12mo, 475 pp. Cloth, eleven portraits. Price $2.00.

PRESS COMMENTS—(Continued).

The story of Mrs. Stanton's life is one which interests many thousands in
this country, and which will also be read with interest in other lands, for her
reputation as a reformer and writer is international; her strong personal
characteristics give to this autobiographical work a charm of its own. It
contains some of the most entertaining reminiscences that have been given
to the public. It is a book which is sure to be widely read.—Worcester Spy.

The personal element is the fascinating part of the book which holds
one's attention and keeps him reading to the end. It is a bright, breezy, and
radical turn-the-world-upside-down book. We do not like its religious tone.
We do not like the author's occult theosophy. We do not like her sociology,
with its good word for the windmill logic of the speculative Bellamy. We do
not like her views of marriage and divorce. But when all is said, and with
all these wide differences lying between us to qualify our enjoyment of this
book, we have enjoyed it much. Mrs. Stanton is a first-rate raconteuse and

fills her pages with amusing recitals and brilliant encounters—N. Y.
Independent.

TO WOMAN SUFFRAGE CLUBS: We will supply Clubs with single
copies of this book at $2 per copy, postage prepaid. We will forward five (5)
copies of this book to any address, express charges prepaid, on the receipt
of six dollars ($6.00).

We Wish An Agent In Every Woman Suffrage Club. Correspondence
with those who desire to become Agents solicited.

SPEECHES, LETTERS AND
MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS
OF

ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.

12mo, 500 pp., cloth, five portraits. Price $2.00.

This work will be similar in style and binding to Eighty Years and More,
will contain valuable editorial notes by Theodore Stanton, A. M., and will
be published in January, 1899.

New York

European Publishing Company

And Paris

THE WOMAN'S BIBLE.
COMPLETE IN TWO PARTS.

REVISING COMMITTEE.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford.
Clara Bewick Colby.
Rev. Augusta Chapin.
Mary Seymour Howell.
Josephine K. Henry.
Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll.
Sarah A. Underwood.
Catharine F. Stebbins.
Ellen Battelle Dietrick.
Ursula N. Gestefeld.
Lillie Devereux Blake.
Matilda Joslyn Gage.
Rev. Olympia Brown.
Frances Ellen Burr.
Clara B. Neyman.
Helen H. Gardener.
Charlotte Beebe Wilbour.
Lucinda B. Chandler.
Louisa Southworth.
Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg, Finland.
Ursula M. Bright, England.
Irma von Troll-Borostyani, Austria.

Priscilla Bright McLaren, Scotland.
Isabelle Bogelot, France.

PART I.

A 12mo, 160 pp. paper. Third American and Second English Edition.
Twentieth Thousand. Price 50 Cents.

It contains Comments on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lillie Devereux Blake, Rev.
Phebe A. Hanaford, Clara Bewick Colby, Ellen Battelle Dietrick, Ursula
N. Gestefeld, Louisa Southworth, Frances Ellen Burr.

PART II.

A 12mo, 217 pp. paper. First American Edition, Ten Thousand. Price 50
Cents.

It contains Comments on The Old and New Testaments from Joshua to
Revelation, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Louisa Southworth, Lucinda B.
Chandler, Anonymous, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford,
Clara
B. Neyman, Frances Ellen Burr, Ellen Battelle Dietrick, and Letters and
Comments in an Appendix, by Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Mary A.
Livermore, Frances E. Willard, Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll, Irma von Troll-
Borostyani, Mrs. Jacob Bright, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Anonymous, Susan
B. Anthony, Edna D. Cheney, Sarah A. Underwood, Dr. Elizabeth
Blackwell, Josephine K. Henry, Ursula N. Gestefeld, Catharine F.
Stebbins, Alice Stone Blackwell, Matilda Joslyn Gage, E. T. M.,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and others, and the resolution passed by the

National-American Woman Suffrage Association, repudiating "The
Woman's
Bible," together with the discussion thereon.

See Press Comments on The Woman's Bible on next page.

PRESS COMMENTS
ON THE

WOMAN'S BIBLE

The comments are right up to date.—Cincinnati Tribune.

The most humorous book of the year.—The Hartford Seminary Record.

Of all possible books this is perhaps the most extraordinary possible.
—The Week, Toronto, Canada.

A very clever analysis of passages relating to the sex.—Public
Opinion, N. Y. City.

The new Woman's Bible is one of the remarkable productions of the
century.—Denver News.

A unique edition of the Scripture. An extraordinary presentment of
Holy Writ!—Denver Times.

The work is unique. Its aim is to help the cause of woman in her battle
for equality.—Beacon, Akron, Ohio.

Robert G. Ingersoll is the only person on earth capable of a work equal to
Mrs. Stanton's sensation, "The Woman's Bible."—Chicago Times- Herald.

The attack of the new woman on the King James Bible will be observed
with interest where it does not alarm. But let "The Woman's Bible" and the
truth prevail. It may be that Lot himself was turned into a pillar of salt.—
Chicago Post.

It has come at last, as it was bound to come—the emancipated woman's
Bible. The wonder is it has been delayed so long. This is not a blasphemous
book.—The Egyptian Gazette, Alexandria, Egypt.

The "new woman" has broken out in a fresh direction and published "The
Woman's Bible." In it the conduct of Adam, the father of the race, is
described as "to the last degree dastardly."—Westminster Budget,
London, Eng.

One of the most striking protests devised by woman for the purpose of
showing her rejection of the conditions under which our mothers lived. It is
evidently the mission of "The Woman's Bible" to exalt and dignify woman.
—The Morning, London, Eng.

We have read some of the passages of the commentary prepared for "the
Woman's Bible" by that very accomplished American woman and Biblical
student, Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. They are a great deal more
satisfactory than many of the comments upon the same texts that we have
read in other and more pretentious Commentaries. Mrs. Stanton's
interpretative remarks are shrewd and sensible—Editorial N. Y. Sun.

Of man-made commentaries on the Bible we have had sufficient to stock
a library and yet they have left room for this commentary by women. These
revisers have proved the need of an intelligent examination of the Scriptures

from the woman's point of view. The lady commentators are not wanting in
a sense of humor—the quality in which biblical critics of the male sex are
usually unhappily deficient. There is much that is very funny and very
interesting in this new commentary upon the Bible.—The Daily Chronicle,
London, Eng.

The Standard says, "The Sisterhood of Advanced Women has taken a
bold step towards emancipation. It has long groaned under certain
implications of servitude contained in a few passages of Scripture, and has,
therefore, determined to abolish these disabilities by publishing 'The
Woman's Bible.'" It is not only the type that is new. New readings of old
passages are given, and the volume contains suggestions to show that the
verses about women's inferiority really mean the opposite of the ordinary
acceptation. In it Eve is rather praised than otherwise for having eaten the
apple. It is pointed out that Satan did not tempt her with an array of silks
and satins, and gold watches, or even a cycling costume—the things which
some people think most seductive to her descendants—but with the offer of
knowledge; a man being of such a lethargic and groveling nature that a
similar lofty ambition never entered his mind. Besides, if the fruit was not
to be eaten, Eve should have been informed of the fact at first hand, and not
through an agent.—Pall Mall Gazette, London, Eng.

The above books will be sent, mail prepaid, on receipt of price, by

European Publishing Company,

68 Broad Street, New York City.

THE WOMAN'S BIBLE
PART II

COMMENTS ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS

FROM

JOSHUA TO REVELATION

"OH! Rather give me commentators plain,
Who with no deep researches vex the brain;
Who from the dark and doubtful love to run.
And hold their glimmering tapers to the sun."

—The Parish Register.

1898.

The Bible in its teachings degrades Woman from Genesis to Revelations.

REVISING COMMITTEE.

"We took sweet counsel together."-Ps. Iv., 14.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford,

Clara Bewick Colby,
Rev. Augusta Chapin,
Ursula N. Gestefeld,
Mary Seymour Howell,
Josephine K. Henry,
Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll,
Sarah A. Underwood,
Ellen Battelle Dietrick,[FN#4]

Lillie Devereux Blake,
Matilda Joslyn Gage,
Rev. Olympia Brown,
Frances Ellen Burr,
Clara B. Neyman,
Helen H. Gardener,
Charlotte Beebe Wilbour,
Lucinda B. Chandler,
Catharine F. Stebbins,
Louisa Southworth.

[FN#4] Deceased.

FOREIGN MEMBERS.

Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg, Finland,

Ursula M. Bright, England,

Irma Von Troll-Borostyani, Austria,

Priscilla Bright Mclaren, Scotland,

Isabelle Bogelot, France.

COMMENTS ON THE OLD AND
NEW TESTAMENTS
FROM

JOSHUA TO REVELATION, BY

Elizabeth Cady Stanton,

Ellen Battelle Dietrick,
Louisa Southworth,
Lucinda B. Chandler,
Anonymous,

Matilda Joslyn Gage,
Frances Ellen Burr,
Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford,
Clara B. Neyman.

APPENDIX.

LETTERS AND COMMENTS BY

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Josephine K. Henry, Frances E. Willard, Eva A.
Ingersoll, Mary A. Livermore, Irma von Troll-Borostyani, Mrs. Jacob
Bright, Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Anonymous, Rev. Phebe A.
Hanaford, Ednah D. Cheney, Sarah A. Underwood, Dr. Elizabeth
Blackwell,
Alice Stone Blackwell, Ursula N. Gestefeld, E. M., Matilda Joslyn Gage,
Sarah M. Perkins, and Catharine F. Stebbins.

Resolution

Of

National-American Woman Suffrage Association repudiating "The
Woman's
Bible," and Speech of Susan B. Anthony.

Dedicated To The Memory Of

Ellen Battelle Dietrick,

In Whose Death We Lost The Ablest Member Of Our Revising
Committee.

PREFACE TO PART II.

The criticisms on "The Woman's Bible" are as varied as they are
unreasonable. Both friend and foe object to the title. When John Stuart Mill
wrote his "Subjection of Woman" there was a great outcry against that title.
He said that proved it to be a good one. The critics said: "It will suggest to
women that they are in subjection and make them rebellious." "That," said
he, "is just the effect I wish to produce." Rider Haggard's "She" was
denounced so universally that every one read it to see who "She" was. Thus
the title in both cases called attention to the book.

The critics say that our title should have been "Commentaries on the
Bible." That would have been misleading, as the book simply contains short
comments on the passages referring to woman. Some say that it should have
been "The Women of the Bible;" but several books with that title have
already been published. The Rev. T. DeWitt Talmage says: "You might as
well have a 'Shoemakers' Bible'; the Scriptures apply to women as we'll as
to men." As the Bible treats women as of a different class, inferior to man or
in subjection to him, which is not the case with shoemakers, Mr. Talmage's
criticism has no significance.

"There's nothing so becomes a man,
As modest stillness and humility."

Another clergyman says: "It is the work of women, and the devil." This is
a grave mistake. His Satanic Majesty was not invited to join the Revising

Committee, which consists of women alone. Moreover, he has been so busy
of late years attending Synods, General Assemblies and Conferences, to
prevent the recognition of women delegates, that he has had no time to
study the languages and "higher criticism."

Other critics say that our comments do not display a profound knowledge
of Biblical history or of the Greek and Hebrew languages. As the position
of woman in all religions is the same, it does not need a knowledge of either
Greek, Hebrew or the works of scholars to show that the Bible degrades the
Mothers of the Race. Furthermore, "The Woman's Bible" is intended for
readers who do not care for, and would not be convinced by, a learned,
technical work of so-called "higher criticism."

The Old Testament makes woman a mere after-thought in creation; the
author of evil; cursed in her maternity; a subject in marriage; and all female
life, animal and human, unclean. The Church in all ages has taught these
doctrines and acted on them, claiming divine authority therefor. "As Christ
is the head of the Church, so is man the head of woman." This idea of
woman's subordination is reiterated times without number, from Genesis to
Revelations; and this is the basis of all church action.

Parts I. and II. of "The Woman's Bible" state these dogmas in plain
English, as agreeing fully with Bible teaching and church action. And yet
women meet in convention and denounce "The Woman's Bible," while
clinging to the Church and their Scriptures. The only difference between us
is, we say that these degrading ideas of woman emanated from the brain of
man, while the Church says that they came from God.

Now, to my mind, the Revising Committee of "The Woman's Bible," in
denying divine inspiration for such demoralizing ideas, shows a more
worshipful reverence for the great Spirit of All Good than does the Church.
We have made a fetich of the Bible long enough. The time has come to read

it as we do all other books, accepting the good and rejecting the evil it
teaches.

"There lives more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds."

Hon. Andrew D. White, formerly President of Cornell University, shows
us in his great work, "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology,"
that the Bible, with its fables, allegories and endless contradictions, has
been the great block in the way of civilization. All through the centuries
scholars and scientists have been imprisoned, tortured and burned alive for
some discovery which seemed to conflict with a petty text of Scripture.
Surely the immutable laws of the universe can teach more impressive and
exalted lessons than the holy books of all the religions on earth.

ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.

January, 1898.

THE BOOK OF JOSHUA.

Joshua ii.

1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly,
saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into a
harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.

2 And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in
hither to-night of the children of Israel to search out the country.

3 And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men
that are come to thee which are entered into thine house: for they be come
to search out all the country.

4 And the woman took the two men, and hid them and said thus, There
came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were.

5 And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate when it was
dark, that the men went out; whither the men went I wot not; pursue after
them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.

This book gives an account of the final entrance of the children of Israel
into the Promised Land. Joshua was the successor of Moses, and performed
the same miracle in parting the waters of the Jordan that Moses did to
enable his people to pass through the Red Sea. He was seven years fighting
his way into the land of Canaan, where he spent the closing years of his life
in peace.

There is mention of two women only in this book, though a casual
reference is again made to the daughters of Zelophehad, as described in a
former chapter.

In saving the spies from their pursuers, Rahab made them promise that
when Jericho fell into the hands of Joshua, they would save her and her
kinsmen. From the text, it seems that Rahab fully understood the spirit of
her time, and with keen insight and religious fervor, marked characteristics
of women, she readily entered into the plans of the great general of Israel.

Rahab was supposed to have been a great sinner, her life in many
respects questionable; but seeing that victory was with the Israelites, she
cast her lot with them. From the text and what we know of humanity in
general, it is difficult to decide Rahab's real motive, whether to serve the
Lord by helping Joshua to take the land of Canaan, or to save her own life
and that of her kinsmen. It is interesting to see mat in all national
emergencies, leading men are quite willing to avail themselves of the craft
and cunning of women, qualities uniformly condemned when used for their
own advantage.

There is no more significance, as one of our critics says, in commentating
on the myths of the Bible than on Aesop's fables. The difference, however,
is this: that in the latter case we admit that they were written by a man;
while in the former, they are claimed to have been inspired by God. Though
at variance with all natural laws, it is claimed that our eternal salvation

depends on believing in the plenary inspiration of the myths of the
Scriptures; as the "higher criticisms," written by learned scholars and
scientists, are not familiar to women, our comments in plain English may
rid them of some of their superstitions.

Though the injustice to woman is the blackest page in sacred history, the
distinguished Biblical writers take no note of it whatever. Even Hon.
Andrew D. White, though he devotes several pages of his work to the statue
of Lot's wife in salt, vouchsafes no criticism on the position of Lot's wife in
the flesh, nor of Lot's outrageous treatment of his daughters. The wonder is
that women themselves should either believe that such unholy proceedings
were inspired by God, or make a fetich of the very book which is
responsible for their civil and social degradation.

Joshua x.

11 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the
going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from
heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died
with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.

12 Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up
the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.

13 And the Sun stood still, and the Moon stayed, until the people had
avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of
Jasher? So the Sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go
down about a whole day.

14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord
hearkened unto the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.

According to the sacred fabulist, Joshua surpassed Moses in the wonders
which he performed. In taking the city of Jericho, as recorded in Chapter
viii., he did not use the ordinary enginery of war, but told his soldiers to
blow a simultaneous blast upon their trumpets, while all the people with
united shouts should produce such a violent concussion of the air as to bring
down the walls of the city. He not only subsidized the atmosphere to
overpower his enemies, but he commanded the sun and the moon to stand
still to lengthen the day and to lighten the night until this victory was
complete.

It seems that the Lord was so well pleased with Joshua's refined military
tactics that he suspended the laws of the vast solar system to vindicate the
superior prowess of one small tribe on the small planet called the earth. The
Lord also resorted to more material and forcible means, sending down
tremendous hailstones from heaven, and thus with one fell blow destroyed
more of his enemies than the children of Israel did with the sword.

There are no events recorded in secular history that strain the faith of the
reader to such a degree as the feats of Joshua. Moses, with his manna and
pillar of light in the wilderness and his dazzling pyrotechnics on Mount
Sinai, fades into insignificance before these marvellous manifestations by
Joshua, with the Canaanites, Jericho, and the sun and moon under his feet.
Though teaching the people that all these fables are facts, still the Church
condemns prestidigitators, soothsayers, fortune tellers, Spiritualists,
witches, and the assumptions of Christian Scientists.

Joshua xv.

16 And Catch said, He that smiteth Kirjathesepher and taketh it, to him
will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.

17 And Othniel, the son of Kenez, the brother of Caleb, took it; and he
gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.

18 And it came to pass, as she came unto him, that she moved him to ask
of her father a field: and she lighted off her ass; and Caleb said unto her,
What wouldest thou?

19 Who answered, Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south
land; give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs, and
the nether springs.

In giving Achsah her inheritance it is evident that the judges of Israel had
not forgotten the judgment of the Lord in the case of Zelophehad's
daughters. He said to Moses, "When a father dies leaving no sons, the
inheritance shall go to the daughters. Let this henceforth be an ordinance in
Israel." Very good as far as it goes; but in case there were sons, justice
demanded that daughters should have an equal share in the inheritance.

As the Lord has put it into the hearts of the women of this Republic to
demand equal rights in everything and everywhere, and as He is said to be
immutable and unchangeable, it is fair to infer that Moses did not fully
comprehend the message, and in proclaiming it to the great assembly he
gave his own interpretation, just as our judges do in this year of the Lord
1898.

Achsah's example is worthy the imitation of the women of this Republic.
She did not humbly accept what was given her, but bravely asked for more.
We should give to our rulers, our sires and sons no rest until all our rights—
social, civil and political—are fully accorded. How are men to know what
we want unless we tell them? They have no idea that our wants, material
and spiritual, are the same as theirs; that we love justice, liberty and
equality as well as they do; that we believe in the principles of self-
government, in individual rights, individual conscience and judgment, the
fundamental ideas of the Protestant religion and republican government.

E. C. S.

THE BOOK OF JUDGES.
CHAPTER I.

Judges i.

19 And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the
mountain: but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they
had chariots of iron.

Judges ii.

6 And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went
every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.

7 And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days
of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the
Lord, that he did for Israel.

8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being a
hundred and ten years old.

This book, supposed to have been written by Samuel the Prophet, covers
a period of 300 years. During all of this time the children of Israel are in
constant friction with the Lord and neighboring tribes, never loyal to either.
When at peace with the Lord, they are fighting with their neighbors; when
at peace with them, worshiping their gods and giving them their daughters
in marriage, then the Lord is angry, and vents His wrath on them. Thus, they
are continually between two fires; now repenting in sackcloth and ashes,
and now, with the help of the Lord, blessed with victories.

Life with them was a brief period of success and defeat. It seems that the
Lord, according to their ideas, had His limitations, and could not fight tribes
who had iron chariots.

What could iron chariots be in the way of that Great Force which creates
cyclones, hurricanes and earthquakes, or the pyrotechnics of a
thunderstorm. How little these people knew of the Great Intelligence behind
the laws of the universe, with whom they pretended to talk in the Hebrew
language, and from whom they claimed to have received directions as to
their treatment of women?

In the opening of this book Joshua still governs Israel. After his death, the
Lord raised up a succession of judges, remarkable for their uprightness and
wisdom; but they found it impossible to keep the chosen people in the
straight and narrow path. The children of Israel did not learn wisdom by
experience. They tired of a rigid code of morals, of a mystical system of
theology, and of the women of their own tribe. There was a fascination in
the manners and the appearance of a new type of womanhood which they
could not resist. There should have been some allowance for these human

proclivities. If the Jews of our day had followed this tendency of their
ancestors and intermarried with other nations, there would have been by
this time no peculiar people to persecute.

The most important feature of this book is the number of remarkable
women herein described; six in number, Achsah, Deborah, Jael, Jephthah's
daughter, Delilah, and two whose names are not mentioned— she who slew
Abimelech, and the concubine of a Levite, whose fate was terrible and
repulsive. There are many instances in the Old Testament where women
have been thrown to the mob, like a bone to dogs, to pacify their passions;
and women suffer to-day from these lessons of contempt, taught in a book
so revered by the people.

E. C. S.

The writer of the Book of judges is unknown. Professor Moore, of Andover
Theological Seminary, supposes that the author used as a basis for his work
an older collection of tales wherein the heroes of Israel and the varying
fortunes of the people were related, and which, like all good tales, pointed a
moral. In all Jewish literature is to be found the same moral—namely, that
the prime cause of all of the evils which befell the Jewish people was
unfaithfulness to Jehovah. "Adherence to the written law brings God's
favor, while disobedience is followed by God's wrath and punishment."

It is not obedience to the inner truth of the individual soul that is made
the spring of action, but obedience to an external authority, to a book, to a
prophet, to a judge or to a king. In judges, to woman in various ways is
given an exalted position; she is not the abject slave or unclean vessel, the
drudge, the servile sinner, the nonentity, as depicted in other parts of the
Bible.

Woman has at no time of the world's history maintained the high position
which she commands to-day in the hearts of the best and most enlightened;
but there were stages when her independence was an assured fact. With
Christianity came the notion of man's dual nature; the physical was looked
upon as sinful; this earth was merely preparatory for a life beyond. Woman,
as the mother of the race, was not honored and revered as such, the
monastic idea being considered more God-like, she was made the
instrument of sin. To be born into this life was not a blessing so long as
ascetism ruled supreme.

The Bible has been of service in some respects; but the time has come for
us to point out the evil of many of its teachings. It now behooves us to
throw the light of a new civilization upon the women who figure in the
Book of judges. We begin with Achsah, a woman of good sense. Married to
a hero, she must needs look out for material subsistence. Her husband being
a warrior, had probably no property of his own, so that upon her devolved
the necessity of providing the means of livelihood. Great men, heroic
warriors, generally lack the practical virtues, so that it seems befitting in her
to ask of her father the blessing of a fruitful piece of land; her husband
would have been satisfied with the south land. She knew that she required
the upper and the nether springs to fertilize it, so that it might yield a
successful harvest.

C. B. N.

CHAPTER II.

Judges iv.

4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel at that
time.

5 And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and
Beth- el in Mount Ephraim; and the children of Israel came up to her for
judgment.

6 And she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kedesh-
naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded,
saying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand
men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?

7 And I will draw unto thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera the captain of
Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into
thine hand.

8 And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if
thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.

9 And she said, I will surely go with thee; notwithstanding the journey
that thou takest shall not be for thine honor; for the Lord shall sell Sisera
into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to
Kedesh.

10 And Barak called Zebulon and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up
with ten thousand men at his feet; and Deborah went up with him.

Some commentators say that Deborah was not married to a man by the
name of Lapidoth, that such a terminology is not customary to the name of
a person, but of a place. They think that the text should read, Deborah of
Lapidoth. Indeed, Deborah seems to have had too much independence of
character, wisdom and self-reliance to have ever filled the role of the Jewish
idea of a wife.

"Deborah" signifies "bee;" and by her industry, sagacity, usefulness and
kindness to her friends and dependents she fully answers to her name.
"Lapidoth" signifies "lamps." The Rabbis say that Deborah was employed
to make wicks for the lamps in the Tabernacle; and having stooped to that
humble office for God's service, she was afterward exalted as a prophetess,
to special illumination and communion with God —the first woman thus
honored in Scripture.

Deborah was a woman of great ability. She was consulted by the children
of Israel in all matters of government, of religion and of war. Her judgment
seat was under a palm tree, known ever after as "Deborah's Palm." Though
she was one of the great judges of Israel for forty years, her name is not in
the list, as it should have been, with Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah.

Men have always been slow to confer on women the honors; which they
deserve.

Deborah did not judge as a princess by any civil authority conferred upon
her, but as a prophetess, as the mouthpiece of God, redressing grievances
and correcting abuses. The children of Israel appealed to her, not so much to
settle controversies between man and man as to learn what was amiss in
their service to God; yet she did take an active part in the councils of war
and spurred the generals to their duty.

The text shows Barak hesitating and lukewarm in the last eventful battle
with Sisera and his host. He flatly refused to go unless Deborah would go
with him. She was the divinely chosen leader; to her came the command,
"Go to Mount Tabor and meet Sisera and his host." Not considering herself
fit too lead an army, she chose Barak, who had already distinguished
himself. He, feeling the need of her wisdom and inspiration, insisted that
she accompany him; so, mounted on pure white jackasses, they started for
the field of battle. The color of the jackass indicated the class to which the
rider belonged. Distinguished personages were always mounted on pure
white and ordinary mortals on gray or mottled animals.

As they journeyed along side by side, with wonderful insight Deborah
saw what was passing in Barak's mind; he was already pluming himself on
his victory over Sisera. So she told him that the victory would not be his,
that the Lord would deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman. It added an
extra pang to a man's death to be slain by the hand of a woman. Fortunately,
poor Sisera was spared the knowledge of his humiliation. What a picture of
painful contrasts his death presents—a loving mother watching and praying
at her window for the return of her only son, while at the same time Jael
performs her deadly deed and blasts that mother's hopes forever! What a
melancholy dirge to her must have been that song of triumph, chanted by

the army of Deborah and Barak, and for years after, by generation after
generation.

We never hear sermons pointing women to the heroic virtues of Deborah
as worthy of their imitation. Nothing is said in the pulpit to rouse their from
the apathy of ages, to inspire them to do and dare great things, to
intellectual and spiritual achievements, in real communion with the Great
Spirit of the Universe. Oh, no! The lessons doled out to women, from the
canon law, the Bible, the prayer-books and the catechisms, are meekness
and self-abnegation; ever with covered heads (a badge of servitude) to do
some humble service for man; that they are unfit to sit as a delegate in a
Methodist conference, to be ordained to preach the Gospel, or to fill the
office of elder, of deacon or of trustee, or to enter the Holy of Holies in
cathedrals.

Deborah was a poetess as well as a prophetess, a judge as well as a
general. She composed the famous historical poem of that period on the
eventful final battle with Sisera and his hosts; and she ordered the soldiers
to sing the triumphant song as they marched through the the {sic} land, that
all the people might catch the strains and that generations might proclaim
the victory.

Judges iv.

18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my
Lord, turn in to me: fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the
tent, she covered him with a mantle.

19 And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink: for I
am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him to drink, and
covered him.

20 Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be,
when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man
here? that thou shalt say, No.

21 Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a hammer in
her hand and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and
fastened it into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

22 And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and
said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest. And
when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his
temples.

The deception and the cruelty practised on Sisera by Jael under the guise
of hospitality is revolting under our code of morality. To decoy the luckless
general fleeing before his enemy into her tent, pledging him safety, and
with seeming tenderness ministering to his wants, with such words of
sympathy and consolation lulling him to sleep, and then in cold blood
driving a nail through his temples, seems more like the work of a fiend than
of a woman.

The song of Deborah and Barak, in their triumph over Sisera, has been
sung in cathedrals and oratorios and celebrated in all time for its beauty and
pathos. The great generals did not forget in the hour of victory to place the
crown of honor on the brow of Jael for what they considered a great deed of
heroism. Jael imagined herself in the line of her duty and specially called by
the Lord to do this service for his people.

Nations make their ideal gods like unto themselves. At this period He
was the God of battles. Though He had made all the tribes, we hope, to the
best of His ability; yet He hated all, the sacred fabulist tells us, but the tribe
of Israel, and even they were objects of His vengeance half the time. Instead
of Midianites and Philistines, in our day we have saints and sinners,
orthodox and heterodox, persecuting each other, although you cannot
distinguish them in the ordinary walks of life. They are governed by the
same principles in the exchanges and the marts of trade.

E. C. S.

Judges v.

Then sang Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, on that day, saying,

2 Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly
offered themselves.

3 Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I will sing unto the
Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

4 Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the
field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also
dropped water.

5 The mountains melted from before the Lord even that Sinai from before
the Lord God of Israel.

6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the
highways were unoccupied and the travellers walked through byways.

7 The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I,
Deborah, arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.

The woman who most attracts our attention in the Book of judges is
Deborah, priestess, prophetess, poetess and judge. What woman is there in
modern or in ancient history who equals in loftiness of position, in public
esteem and honorable distinction this gifted and heroic Jewish creation?
The writer who compiled the story of her gifts and deeds must have had
women before him who inspired him with such a wonderful personality.
How could Christianity teach and preach that women should be silent in the
church when already among the Jews equal honor was shown to women?
The truth is that Christianity has in many instances circumscribed woman's
sphere of action, and has been guilty of great injustice toward the whole
sex.

Deborah was, perhaps, only one of many women who held such high and
honorable positions. Unlike any modern ruler, Deborah dispensed justice
directly, proclaimed war, led her men to victory, and glorified the deeds of
her army in immortal song. This is the most glorious tribute to woman's
genius and power. If Deborah, way back in ancient Judaism, was considered
wise enough to advise her people in time of need and distress, why is it that
at the end of the nineteenth century, woman has to contend for equal rights
and fight to regain every inch of ground she has lost since then? It is now an
assured fact that not only among the Hebrews, but also among the Greeks
and the Germans, women formerly maintained greater freedom and power.

The struggle of to-day among the advanced of our sex is to regain and to
reaffirm what has been lost since the establishment of Christianity. Every

religion, says a modern thinker, has curtailed the rights of woman, has
subjected her to man's ruling; in emphasizing the life beyond, the earthly
existence became a secondary consideration. We are learning the great harm
which comes from this one-sided view of life; and by arousing woman to
the dignity of her position we shall again have women like Deborah,
honored openly and publicly for political wisdom, to whom men will come
in time of need.

Genius knows no sex; and woman must again usurp her Divine
prerogative as a leader in thought, song and action. The religion of the
future will honor and revere motherhood, wifehood and maidenhood.
Asceticism, an erroneous philosophy, church doctrines based not upon
reason or the facts of life, issued out of crude imaginings; phantasms
obstructed the truth, held in check the wheel of progress. Let our church
women turn their gaze to such characters as Deborah, and claim the same
recognition in their different congregations.

The antagonism which the Christian church has built up between the
male and the female must entirely vanish. Together they will slay the
enemies—ignorance, superstition and cruelty. United in every enterprise,
they will win; like Deborah and Barak, they will clear the highways and
restore peace and prosperity to their people. Like Deborah, woman will
forever be the inspired leader, if she will have the courage to assert and
maintain her power. Her aspirations must keep pace with the demands of
our civilization. "New times teach new duties."

God never discriminates; it is man who has made the laws and compelled
woman to obey him. The Old Testament and the New are books written by
men; the coming Bible will be the result of the efforts of both, and contain
the wisdom of both sexes, their combined spiritual experience. Together

they will unfold the mysteries of life, and heaven will be here on earth when
love and justice reign supreme.

C. B. N.

Judges viii.

30 And Gideon had three score and ten sons: for he had many wives.

31 And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son,
whose name he called Abimelech.

Judges ix.

52 And Abimelech came unto the tower, and fought against it, and went
hard unto the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

53 And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's
head, and all to break his skull.

54 Then he called hastily unto the young man, his armour-bearer, and
said unto him, Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A
woman slew him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

Abimelech destroyed the city of Thebez, drove all the people into a tower
and then tried to set it on fire, as he had done in many places before in his

war on other tribes; but here he lost his life, and at the hand of a woman,
which was considered the greatest disgrace which could befall a man.
Commentators say that as Sisera and Abimelech were exceptionally proud
and lofty, they were thus degraded in their death. Sisera was spared the
knowledge of his fate by being taken off when asleep; but Abimelech saw
the stone coming and knew that it was from the hand of a woman, an added
pang to his death agony. He had no thoughts of his wicked life nor his
eternal welfare, but with his dying breath implored his armor-bearer to
thrust him through with his sword, that it might not be said that he was slain
by the hand of a woman.

Abimelech had three score and ten brethren. It is said that his mother
roused his ambition to be one of the judges of Israel. To attain this he killed
all his brethren but one, who escaped. He enjoyed his ill-gotten honors but a
short space of time. We find many such stories in the Hebrew mythology
which have no foundation in fact.

Judges xi.

30 And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt
without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands,

31 Then it shall be that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my
house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon,
shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.

33 And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even
twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great

slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of
Israel.

34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his
daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances; and she was
his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.

35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and
said, Alas, my daughter! thou has brought me very low, and thou art one of
them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I
cannot go back.

36 And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto
the Lord, do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy
mouth; forasmuch as the Lord hath taken vengeance for thee of thine
enemies, even of the children of Ammon.

37 And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me
alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and
bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.

A woman's vow, as we have already seen, could be disallowed at the
pleasure of any male relative; but a man's was considered sacred even
though it involved the violation of the sixth commandment, the violation of
the individual rights of another human being. These loving fathers in the
Old Testament, like Jephthah and Abraham, thought to make themselves
specially pleasing to the Lord by sacrificing their children to Him as burnt
offerings. If the ethics of their moral code had permitted suicide, they might
with some show of justice have offered themselves, if they thought that the
first-born kid would not do; but what right had they to offer up their sons
and daughters in return for supposed favors from the Lord?

The submission of Isaac and Jephthah's daughter to this violation of their
most sacred rights is truly pathetic. But, like all oppressed classes, they
were ignorant of the fact that they had any natural, inalienable rights. We
have such a type of womanhood even in our day. If any man had asked
Jephthah's daughter if she would not like to have the Jewish law on vows so
amended that she might disallow her father's vow, and thus secure to herself
the right of life, she would no doubt have said, "No; I have all the rights I
want," just as a class of New York women said in 1895, when it was
proposed to amend the constitution of the State in their favor.

The only favor which Jephthah's daughter asks, is that she may have two
months of solitude on the mountain tops to bewail the fact that she will die
childless. Motherhood among the Jewish women was considered the
highest honor and glory ever vouchsafed to mortals. So she was permitted
for a brief period to enjoy her freedom, accompanied by young Jewish
maidens who had hoped to dance at her wedding.

Commentators differ as to the probable fate of Jephthah's daughter. Some
think that she was merely sequestered in some religious retreat, others that
the Lord spoke to Jephthah as He did to Abraham forbidding the sacrifice.
We might attribute this helpless condition of woman to the benighted state
of those times if we did not see the trail of the serpent through our civil
laws and church discipline.

This Jewish maiden is known in history only as Jephthah's daughter—
she belongs to the no-name series. The father owns her absolutely, having
her life even at his disposal. We often hear people laud the beautiful
submission and the self-sacrifice of this nameless maiden. To me it is pitiful
and painful. I would that this page of history were gilded with a dignified
whole-souled rebellion. I would have had daughter receive the father's
confession with a stern rebuke, saying: "I will not consent to such a

sacrifice. Your vow must be disallowed. You may sacrifice your own life as
you please, but you have no right over mine. I am on the threshold of life,
the joys of youth and of middle age are all before me. You are in the sunset;
you have had your blessings and your triumphs; but mine are yet to come.
Life is to me full of hope and of happiness. Better that you die than I, if the
God whom you worship is pleased with the sacrifice of human life. I
consider that God has made me the arbiter of my own fate and all my
possibilities. My first duty is to develop all the powers given to me and to
make the most of myself and my own life. Self-development is a higher
duty than self-sacrifice. I demand the immediate abolition of the Jewish law
on vows. Not with my consent can you fulfill yours." This would have been
a position worthy of a brave woman.

E. C. S.

The ideal womanhood portrayed by ancient writers has had by far too much
sway. The prevailing type which permeates all literature is that of inferiority
and subjection. In early times Oriental poets often likened woman to some
clear, flawless jewel, and made them serve simply as ornaments, while, on
the other hand, they were made subordinate by the legislation of barbarous
minds; and men, because of their selfish passion, have inflicted woe after
woe upon them. Ancient literature is wholly against the equality of the
sexes or the rights of women, and subordinates them in every relation of
life.

The writings of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, are no exception
to this rule. The reference, "The sons of God and daughters of men," while
it admits of many interpolations, legendary or mythical as it may be,
portrays the real animus of the Scriptures. To what extent the sentiment of

the Hebrews favored sons rather than daughters, and the injustice of this
distinction is fully exemplified by the stories of Abraham and Isaac, and of
Jephthah and his daughter. Abraham was commanded by his God to
sacrifice his son Isaac, after the manner of the Canaanites, who often slew
their children and burnt them upon their altars in honor of their deities. But
when all was made ready for the sacrifice an angel of Jehovah appeared, the
hand of Abraham was stayed, and a ram was made a substitute for the son
of promise.

The conditions were quite different in the case of Jephthah and his
daughter. The Israelites had been brought very low in their contest with the
Ammonites, and they chose the famous warrior, Jephthah, to lead them
against their foe, who with warlike zeal summoned the hosts to battle. The
risk was enormous, the enemy powerful, and the general, burning for
victory, intent on securing the assistance of the Deity, made a solemn and
fatal vow.

In the first case it was a direct command of God, but means were found
to revoke this explicit command with regard to a son; in the second case it
was only a hasty and unwise promise of a general going to war, and the
prevailing sentiment of the age felt it unnecessary to evade its fulfillment—
the victim was only a girl. The unhappy father must sacrifice his daughter!

What a masculine coloring is given to the rest of the narrative: "A maiden
who did not mourn her death, but wandered up and down the mountain
mourning her virginity." So much glamor has been thrown by poetry and by
song, over the sacrifice of this Jewish maiden, that the popular mind has
become too benumbed to perceive its great injustice. The Iphigenias have
been many and are still too numerous to awaken compassion. We must
destroy the root of this false and pernicious teaching, and plant in its place a
just and righteous doctrine.

What women have to win for the race is a theory of conduct which shall
be more equitable. The unalterable subserviency of woman in her natural
condition can never be overcome and social development progress so long
as there is a lack of distributive justice to every living soul without
discrimination of sex.

L. S.

CHAPTER III.

Judges xiii.

And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren.

3 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her,
Behold now, thou art barren; but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.

4 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink,
and eat not any unclean thing:

5 For, lo, thou shalt bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for
the child shall be a Nazarite unto God; and he shall begin to deliver Israel
out of the hands of the Philistines.

6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God
came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of
God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me
his name:

7 But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt bear a son; and now drink no
wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a
Nazarite to God to the day of his death.

8 Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, O try Lord, let the man of
God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall
do unto the child that shall be born.

9 And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah: and the angel of God
came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband
was not with her.

10 And the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and
said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me
the other day.

11 And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and
said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said,
I am.

12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we
order the child, and how shall we do unto him?

13 And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the
woman let her beware.

We come now to a very interesting incident, giving proof of the
remarkable knowledge which the writers had of some intrinsic laws and the
power of transmission which, even to-day, are known and adhered to only
by a very small minority of wise, thoughtful mothers. However, the wife of
Manoah, the future mother of Samson, is visited by an angel, giving her
instructions as to her way of living during pregnancy. It appears that the

writer was acquainted with some pre-natal influences and their effect upon
the unborn.

We are just now beginning to investigate the important problem of child
culture. Many good thoughts have been given on this subject by earnest
thinkers. A knowledge of these important laws of life will do away with the
most harassing evils and sins which human flesh is heir to. Intelligent, free
mothers will be enabled to forecast not only the physical, but also the
psychical, traits of their offspring. How and why this once recognized
knowledge was lost we know not. We may, however, rightly infer that so
long as woman was not the arbiter of her own destiny she had no power to
make use of this knowledge. Only the thoughful, {sic} independent wife
can administer the laws and the rules necessary for her own wellbeing and
that of her offspring. Freedom is the first prerequisite to a noble life.

Observe how simple and trustful the relation is between this husband and
wife. Manoah is thoughtful and ready to unite with his wife in all that the
angel had commanded. There is no trace of disunion or of disobedience to
the higher law which his wife had been instructed to follow. To her the law
was revealed, and he sustained her in its observance. Mark, however, one
difference from our interpretation of to-day, and how the omission of it
worked out the destruction of the child. All the injunctions received were of
a physical nature; strength of body and faith in God were to be the attributes
through which Samson was to serve his people. The absence of moral traits
is very evident in Samson; and this is the reason why he fell an easy prey to
the wiles of designing women. It was not moral, but physical heroism
which distinguished Samson from his combatants. Vengeance, cruelty,
deceit, cunning devices were practised not only by the Philistines, but
likewise by the Nazarite.

The angel who appeared to Manoah's wife was probably her own inner
sense, and the appearance is to be understood rather as a figure of speech
than as an actual occurrence, although there may have been, as there are to-
day, people who were so credulous as to believe that such things actually
occurred. The angel who whispers into our ears is knowledge, foresight,
high motive, ideality, unselfish love. A conscious attitude towards the ideal
still unattained, a lofty standard of virtue for the coming offspring, an
intelligent, pure fatherhood, and a wise, loving motherhood must take the
place of a mysterious, instinctive trust—the blind faith of the past. C. B. N.

One would suppose that this woman, so honored of God, worthy to
converse with angels on the most delicate of her domestic relations, might
have had a name to designate her personality instead of being mentioned
merely—as the wife of Manoah or the mother of Samson. I suppose that it
is from these Biblical examples that the wives of this Republic are known
as Mrs. John Doe or Mrs. Richard Roe, to whatever Roe or Doe she may
belong. If she chance to marry two or three times, the woman's identity is
wholly lost. To make this custom more ludicrous, women sometimes keep
the names of two husbands, clinging only to the maiden name, as Dolly Doe
Roe, ignoring her family name, the father from whom she may have derived
all of her talent. Samson's wife had no name, nor had the second woman on
whom he bestowed his attentions; to the third one is vouchsafed the name
of Delilah, but no family name is mentioned. All three represented one type
of character and betrayed the "consecrated Nazarite," "the canonized judge
of Israel."

It would be a great blessing to the race, if parents would take heed to the
important lesson taught in the above texts. The nine months of ante-natal
life is the period when the mother can make the deepest impression in
forming future character, when she has absolute power for weal or for woe
over the immortal being. Locke, the philosopher, said, "Every child is born

into the world with a mind like a piece of blank paper, and we may write
thereon whatever we will;" but Descartes said, "Nay, nay; the child is born
with all its possibilities. You can develop all you find there, but you cannot
add genius or power." "Nascitur, non fit," although our learned blacksmith,
Elihu Burritt, always reversed this motto. E. C. S.

No body of ecclesiastics has taught the message of the angel of the Lord
to Manoah's wife as a message of direction from the Lord to save the race
from the disastrous results of strong drink and impure food. And although
the degree of enlightenment attained shows that science and the instructions
of the angel to Manoah's wife agree, this knowledge does not protect the
unborn child from the effects of the use by the mothers of to-day of wine,
strong drink and unclean food.

Could the light which reveals to the mother what would be a saving
power to her child, be followed carefully by both herself and the father
during ante-natal life, the race would more rapidly be brought to the full
stature of its destined perfection. Not only is physical endowment available
to the child through the wholesome sustenance of the mother, but the
qualities of the higher nature may also be transmitted, and moral grandeur
be an inheritance equally with grand physical powers.

The theological teaching that has made human nature depraved and cut
off from the divine source of all perfection, has hindered the development
of the higher faculties of understanding. It has led to a misapprehension of
the creative power of parenthood. From the idea that the creation of
humanity was finished "in the beginning," and that man fell from his high
estate as the image of God, has resulted a demoralized race. The instruction
of the angel to Samson's mother, was in accord with the dominant spirit that
wrought the victories of Israel over enemies, and the reign of physical force
that characterized the people of that age.

The woman, having had no experience of motherhood, had not been
subject to the deep soul-stirring that belongs to the mystery of life in a
developed womanhood. Nor did that experience evidently transmit to
Samson a high degree of moral strength. He was but a well developed
physical organism, which the spirit of life could act through without
limitation. He consorted with the harlot, but it was the woman whom he
loved who succeeded in wringing from him the secret of his strength, and
thus the possibility of delivering him to his enemies.

In the relation of women to this man of might there is illustrated the
dominant characteristics of the purely animal man. The father of Samson's
first wife gave her to another man after Samson had gone in anger to his
father's house, and when he returned and proposed to resume his conjugal
relations, this father proposed that he should take the younger sister, who
"was fairer than she."

It is a significant suggestion of the quality of the relation that Samson's
first wife (who had also no name of her own) and Delilah, whom he loved,
were both more loyal to their own people, and had more regard for them,
than for the man to whom they had been "given."

L. B. C.

Judges xiv.

1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of
the daughters of the Philistines.

2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have
seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore
get her for me to wife.

3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman
among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou
goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto
his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.

So the father and the mother, much against their wishes, went down to
Timnath and secured for Samson the desired wife. He conformed to the
custom of the Philistines; and on the occasion of the nuptial solemnities he
made a great feast, and invited thirty young men to join in the festivities,
which lasted seven days. These feasts were enlivened with interesting
discussions, stories and riddles. Samson propounded one, with promises of
valuable gifts to those who guessed the riddle: "Out of the eater came forth
meat, out of the strong came forth sweetness."

It seems that on one occasion, being attacked by a lion, Samson, without
any weapon of defense, tore the lion to pieces. Passing the vineyard some
time after, he went in to see if the lion still rested there; and lo! the skeleton
was a hive of bees. He partook freely of the honey and carried some to his
parents. Being proof against the lion's paws, he had no fear of the bees. Day
after day passed, and the young men could not guess the riddle. So they
persuaded the wife to coax him for the answer, with promises of silver if
she succeeded, and threatenings of wrath if she failed. So, with constant
weeping and doubts of his love, she at last worried the answer out of him,
with promises of secrecy.

As soon as Samson saw that he was betrayed he sent his wife back to her
father's house, who gave her at once to one of the leaders at the festivities.

As Samson loved the woman, he forgave her, and sought to bring her back
to his own home. The father informed him that he had already given her to
another, and that he might have the younger daughter, if he chose, who had
far more grace and beauty.

The commentators say that it was very generous in Samson to make this
concession, as he was the party offended. But Samson was himself a riddle
and a paradox of a man. "He saw something in her face which pleased him
well." "He that in the choice of a wife is guided by his eye, and governed by
his fancy, must afterwards blame himself if he find a Philistine in his arms."
It is a great calamity that even able men are so easily influenced by weak
and wicked women to do what they know is dangerous; and yet they feel it
a disparagement to follow the advice of a good wife in what is virtuous and
praiseworthy.

Samson was most unfortunate in all his associations with women. It is a
pity that the angel who impressed on his parents the importance of
considering everything that pertained to the physical development of the
child, had not made some suggestions to them as to the formation of his
moral character. Even his physical prowess was not used by him for any
great purpose. To kill a lion, to walk off with the gates of the city, to catch
three hundred foxes and to tie them together by their tails two by two, with
firebrands to burn the cornfields and the vineyards—all this seems more
like the frolics of a boy, than the military tactics of a great general or the
statesmanship of a judge in Israel.

Samson does not seem to have learned wisdom from experience in his
dealings with women. He foolishly trusted another woman, "whose face
pleased him," with the secret of his great strength, which she, too, worried
out of him with tears and doubts of his affection. For the betrayal of his
secret the Philistines paid her eleven hundred pieces of silver.

In the last act of this complicated tragedy, it is said that Samson at his
death killed more people than in all his life before. After Delilah betrayed
him into the hands of the Philistines, they put out his eyes, and left him to
grind in the prison house. As was their custom, they brought him out to
make sport for the people assembled in a spacious building. As his hair had
begun to grow, he braced himself against the door posts, overturned the
building, and killed all of its occupants, and himself, gladly ending his own
sad life.

The name Delilah is fitly used to describe those who with flattery bring
destruction on those whom they pretend to love. Many a strong man has
been slain by this type of designing woman. Commentators do not agree as
to whether Delilah was an Israelite or a Philistine, probably the latter, as
Samson seemed to be more pleased with the women of that tribe than with
those of his own. One hesitates to decide which is most surprising—
Samson's weakness or Delilah's wickedness.

E. C. S.

The writer of the Book of Judges would fail in his endeavor to present a
complete picture of his time, did he omit the important characteristic of a
woman and her influence upon man therein portrayed.

In Delilah, the treacherous, the sinister, the sensuous side of woman is
depicted. Like Vivian, in the Idyls of King Arthur, Delilah uses— nay,
abuses—the power which she had gained over Samson by virtue of her
beauty and her personal attractions. She uses these personal gifts for a
sinister purpose. They serve her as a snare to beguile the man whose lust
she had aroused.

What a lesson this story teaches to men as well as to women! Let man
overcome the lust of his eyes and prostitution will die a natural death. Let
woman beware that her influence is of the purest and highest; let her
spiritual nature be so attractive that man will be drawn toward it. Forever
"the eternal womanly draweth man" onward and upward. Soul unity will
become the rule when the same chastity and purity are demanded of the
sexes alike. Woman's chastity is never secure as long as there are two
standards of morality.

C. B. N.

"Colonial days" is the felicitous term given by Rev. Dr. Lyman Abbott to
the period of nearly three centuries following the campaign against the
inhabitants of Canaan, when the Israelites took possession of their land. The
Book of, Judges is a record of those "colonial days;" and they are described
also in the first part of the book which bears the name of the prophet
Samuel. During those Hebrew "colonial days," as Dr. Abbott states, "there
was no true Capital—indeed, no true Nation. There were a variety of
separate provinces, having almost as little common life as had the American
colonies before the formation of the Constitution of the United States. In
war these colonies united; in peace they separated from each other again."

But in one thing they were united. They clung to the teachings of their
great law-giver, Moses, and emphasized a belief in one righteous God.
Whether expressed by priestly ritual or in prophetic declaration, the truth
was clearly revealed that the Jews were a people who worshiped one God,
and that they accorded to Him the attribute of righteousness. He was a
sovereign, but a just one. And to this belief they clung tenaciously,

believing themselves justified in conquering the nations about them,
because their God was the only ruler.

The Book of Judges contains the record of many harrowing events; but
what besides savagery can be expected of a warring people whose Deity is
invoked as the "God of battles," and who believed themselves Divinely
commissioned to drive other tribes from off the face of the earth! The book
is as sensational as are our newspapers; and if each chapter and verse were
illustrated as are the papers of what is termed the "New journalism," they
would present an appearance of striking and painful similarity.

The fate of Adoni-besek, an example of retributive justice; the
treacherous act of the left-handed Ehud, causing the death of the fat King
Eglon of Moab; the inhospitable cruelty—or cruel inhospitality— of Jael,
the wife of Heber, whose hammer and nail are welded fast in historical
narration with the brow of the sleeping guest, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's
army; the famous exploits of Gideon who, if he was a superior strategist
and warrior, gave little evidence, by his seventy sons, of his morality
according to Christian standards; the death of Abimelech, which was half
suicidal lest it should be said that a woman's hand had slain him; these, and
more also of the same sort, leave the impression on the mind that those
"colonial days" of the Hebrew nation were far from days of peace or of high
morality; and the record of them is certainly as unfit for the minds of
children and of youth as are the illustrated and graphic accounts of many
unholy acts which are to found in our daily newspapers.

General Weyler, in his Cuban warfare, has, in many respects, a prototype
in General Gideon, and also in General Jephthah, "a mighty man of valor"
and "the son of a harlot," as the author of the Book of Judges declares him
to have been. We deprecate the savage butchery of the one—what ought we
to say of the renown of the others? War is everywhere terrible, and "deeds

of violence and of blood" are sad reminders of the imperfections of
mankind. The men of those "colonial days" were far from being patterns of
excellence; and the women "matched the men," in most instances. Deborah,
as a "mother in Israel," won deserved renown, so that her song of victory is
even now rehearsed, but it is a query that can have but one answer, whether
her anthem of triumph is not a musical rehearsal of treacherous and warlike
deeds, unworthy of a woman's praise?

In the Book of judges Delilah appears, and if the mother of her strong
lover, Samson, was not a perfect woman, in the modern sense, she has
helped to make some readers feel that the law of heredity is a revealer of
secrets, and that the story of the angel of the Lord may be received with due
caution. The name "Delilah" has become a synonym for a woman tempting
to sin, and the moral weakness and physical strength of Samson show the
power of heredity. But whether the stories should be in the hands of our
youth, without sufficient explanation and wise commentaries, is a question
which coming days will solve to the extent of a wise elimination. Solemn
lessons, and those of moral import, are given in the Book of Judges; yet, as
a whole, the book does not leave one with an exalted opinion of either the
men or the women of those days. But it certainly gives no evidence that in
shrewdness, in a wise adaptation of means to ends, in a persistent effort
after desired objects, in a successful accomplishment of plans and purposes,
the women were the inferiors of the men in that age. They appear to have
been their equals, and occasionally their superiors.

P. A. H.

THE BOOK OF RUTH.

Ruth i.

1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a
famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem—Judah went to sojourn
in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.

2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife
Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion. And they came
into the country of Moab, and continued there.

3 And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left, and her two
sons.

4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one
was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelt there about ten
years.

5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was
left of her two sons and her husband.

6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from
the country of Moab; for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the
Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.

7 Wherefore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two
daughters in law with her.

8 And Naomi said unto her daughters in law, Go, return each to her
mother's house;

The Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with
me.

10 And they said unto her, Surely we will return with thee unto thy
people.

14 And they lifted up their voice, and wept: and Orpah kissed her mother
in law; but Ruth clave to her.

15 And he said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people,
and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law.

16 And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee: for whither thou goest, I
will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God:

19 So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to pass,
when they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved about
them, and they said, Is this Naomi?

20 And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the
Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.